Mine, Mine, MINE!!!

I think I gave God a chuckle this morning. Let me back up - I was at Target on Friday afternoon, and I was minding my own business in the lotion aisle when I heard a terrible commotion coming from across the way. I looked up and saw a lady with her little boy (who was probably a little older than Aiden), and this little one was throwing the worst fit I have ever seen. He was screaming and kicking and throwing things, it was just terrible. This poor lady. I thought to myself, I am so glad my kid doesn't act like that! Yeah.....

Monday mornings are not my favorite thing; doctor's appointments aren't either. So when I have to go to a doctor's appointment on Monday morning (at 8 am, no less), it's not a great way to start the week. I was taking Aiden in for a follow-up appt for his ears, and also to check and make sure that his Strep Throat had cleared up. So there we were, at the ENT clinic when Aiden decided he wanted to take everything out of my purse and put it on the floor. I decided that wasn't the best idea, and took my purse from him and zipped it closed. Well. That did not sit well with my little boy, and he proceeded to fling himself onto his back, roll around on the floor, kicking and screaming, "MINE! MINE! MINE!"

Wonderful. I wanted to just grab him and run out of the room. Or maybe throw him out of the nearest window. Since I had witnesses, I figured that might not be such a great idea. So I got down on the floor, grabbed his little head and said, in my best quietly threatening Mommy voice, "Aiden Christopher - you stop it right now." Amazingly enough, he did. He just looked at me with his little pouty face (the one that really gets to me), with tears in his eyes and said, "Mama?" And then he smiled. And he kept smiling, and then he giggled.

Now don't let him fool you. He knew exactly what he was doing. This kid is a master manipulator. He knew just what to do and say to completely dissolve my anger. How long can I remain mad at a toddler who is grinning at me and batting his little eyelashes? Not long at all, and he knew it. What's worse, the lady sitting next to me in the waiting room just laughed.

Okay, so maybe I won't throw him out the window.

Wait a MINUTE!!!

Something occurred to me today, as I was changing my son's diaper and wishing for the 50-millionth time that he was old enough to be potty-trained. Chris is leaving. He won't be back until Aiden is 3 years old. That means he is going to miss the potty-training. How did he arrange THAT??? We had a deal, Chris and I. We agreed that when we had children, he was going to take over potty-training for the boys, and I would handle the girls. Makes sense, right? Now what am I supposed to do? Uncle Sam has effectively shut down that plan.

While I am sure that Chris is secretly breathing a sigh of relief, I have to figure out how to teach my son something that I don't know to do myself. There is a reason girls sit down, it's much more sensible, not to mention cleaner. I've heard that a handful of Cheerios in the toilet is a good way to teach him to aim, but I really have no clue if that works. I don't have brothers, I don't know anything about this stuff!

Although - there may be some advantages to having my son toilet-trained solely by a woman. I'm having visions of a boy who actually knows how to put the seat down, make it into the toilet, and change the toilet paper roll all by himself. Hmmm....maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all. There won't be a man around to intrude on my brainwashing....

I know one thing - he had BETTER be here for the birds and the bees!