It’s been a long, long, winding, hair pulling road, this potty training business. We started too soon and life obstacles made a long race much longer. There were small successes and big ones and then just for good measure, a few backslides into lazy. I’m not even sure I want to say we are out of the woods yet, but this week MM achieved a small goal we’d set for him a couple of weeks ago when said backslide began. Three #2s in a row, no accidents. Even more impressive? He managed this feat in spite of the stomach bug from hell.

To celebrate we finally cashed in some gift cards my mom sent for Christmas at Walmart. MM painstakingly picked out Buzz Lightyear after a lot of humming and hawing, along with that awesome set of crayons that I mentioned in my Aloha Friday post. He’s been making due with dollar store crayons for a couple of months now and the *only* thing I liked about those crayons was the fact that they came in a plastic case. A cheap plastic case that didn’t let the crayons stand up quite straight. The crappy crayons. It was time for an upgrade, but I fell in love with the idea of plastic crayon cases and shelled out 15 big ones to get the world’s most awesome crayon set.

These crayons are so awesome that even the little temporary cover that came with them was quickly doubled as  hat, providing even more entertainment.

You know I like randomly re-purposing stuff. And silliness. And taking silly pictures of my kids re-purposing stuff.

Of course while we were at the store we had to pick up BB’s present, too. Even though she doesn’t poop in the potty, we figured she’s been doing a pretty good job being a baby toddler, plus we really like buying her stuff.

Especially awesome stuff like her very first doll house that is actually age appropriate and not me completely jumping the gun.

Can we talk about her hair for a minute?

Seriously. These gorgeous long, blond locks make me swoon like a love sick school girl. They are actually long enough to put into pig tails now and this time she didn’t even scream at me.

She didn’t really pay much attention to me either, but you know, I’m used to that.

Speaking of doll houses (sorry, I’m not very good at segues, clearly) MM is pretty smitten with this new toy, too. I’m a big advocate for letting boys and girls play with toys from both “typical gender” themes. He is free to play with dolls and drink from the occasional pink cup. If she wants a BB Gun, well, I’d probably say no to both kids, but I suppose a nerf gun is okay. And the day she refuses to wear dresses, pig tails or anything pink, I have to say I won’t be surprised. That’s why I’m getting it all in now while I can.

And in case you didn’t notice, why yes Doll Baby is sitting on the potty at the dinner table. There are only two chairs, so clearly improvisations had to be made.

Or maybe this whole stomach bug really is taking over our lives.