T minus 6 days and counting. Maybe.

This morning I endured the fun of trying to reason with a 2-1/2 year old. Last week we didn't go swimming, and next Wednesday is the date we chose a while ago to be The Official Start of Potty Training. As in, take off the diaper the minute we wake up, put the underpants on, and see if we can keep our furniture and floors clean. I'm thinking we'll stick around the house for the first few days, so we won't likely go swimming next week, either.

So this morning I asked Liam if he wanted to go swimming today, and he said yes. And then half an hour before it was time to get ready to go swimming, I asked him again, and he said yes. And then I started giving him warnings, you know, "Ten more minutes until we have to stop playing to go get ready for swimming"... and he was agreeable. And then it was time to go get ready for swimming. And he wanted to play trains some more. And he wanted to put all the Mr. Potato Head pieces (there are a ton) back in the boxes so he could vacuum the floor with his toy vacuum. And he wanted to read the Curious George lift-the-flap book. Finally I said, you win - we're not going swimming.

Then we did some leisurely cleaning up of the breakfast dishes, and got dressed, and I had a shower. And when I stepped out of the shower, Liam was standing there with my tube of chapstick, and he said, "Me want some chapstick on before we go swimming." And I said, "But we decided not to go swimming. We're going to stay home today." And, of course, he started to bawl. By now it was already later than it normally is when we are backing out of the driveway.

So then we went though the flurry of getting Mallory fed, getting Liam a snack, throwing together our swimming stuff, and getting out of the door. In the end, I was glad to go. Liam swam the entire time without me. (He wears a lifejacket.) He did so well. We ran into our doula, Lisa, and said hi. We listened to the all-Christmas radio station on the drive out and back, as is our custom in November and December. It was really a lot of fun.

And, hopefully next week we will be in the throes of sitting on the potty every 20 minutes all day long. Recent events might change that, but I hope not. If not, the pool won't be an option next week, so it was good to get out there today.

(Mallory was up about 5 times last night and has occasionally been a witch for the past couple of days, so I was glad to find another tooth poking through this morning - at least she has an excuse. I know there should be a photo of Liam accompanying this post, not Mallory, but Liam conked right out after lunch and Mallory was the only subject I had handy. Besides, we just got some new Babylegs - look how cute!)