Kicking the Diaper Habit

It's really funny, we've got Marcus on the potty training route, but both he and Alya still use sippy cups. It's like we're scared of letting them put milk or juice on the carpet, but pee and poo? No problem!

For those of you who do not see the kids, they have moved from cute little ones, to cute, active, often defiant, not-quite-so-little ones. Alya is nearly at the height where she is not supposed to play at the Bayshore kids area anymore. Mind, we were there tonight and saw an 8 year old (at least) hanging out with his little brother on the equipment. Such is life in America.

Anyway, the two of them are getting really good at not listening/following directions these days. Marcus prefers straight up defiance, "I don't like that!" while Alya attempts to make a deal or deflect what you asked her to do.

"Alya, go potty before bed."

"But you told me to pick out pj's."

"And you did that, now go potty before putting them on."

"But you told me to pick out pj's." [different, slightly whiny-er inflection]

[sigh]

But it's amazing how funny they can be as well.

Tonight we ate at Potbelly, and neither of them liked their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - because they were too messy. As soon as I wrapped them up in a napkin for holding purposes, they were okay. But we were going through napkins like crazy. So when I handed one to Alya for her messy hands, she took it and draped it over her head! No good reason, just left it there as we all laughed. She is a goof.

Meanwhile, I had the "crazed parent" moment of the night. Marcus ate a quarter of his half a sandwich before a lump of peanut butter derailed his interest. Since Potbelly does sundaes, they have bananas right there in the store. So I took them both up to the counter to get one for them. Well, it was just one guy back there - manager or shift lead - and the other two where outta sight, so we were waiting. And waiting. And the kids were getting antsy. So when I could grab his attention, I just said, "I need a banana for the kids." and held out my card. (Yeah, I'm one of those no-cash-having kind of guys.) He said it was 53 cents and minimum was a dollar. So I stated I had no cash (like a North Shore jerk) and started walking away. He called out, just take one on me. So I did.

Three minutes later, once Marcus was eating said banana.
([crack! Peel-peel-peel. pass to Marcus] "I want to peel it!" [mentally curse for forgetting he peels his own and attempt to fool him that I resealed it] [succeed in fooling 2-year-old son])
I realized we had been carrying Marcus's Spider-man lunch box with us. The one that was filled will all the coins from a mini-change jar. Probably only three or four bucks in there, but that's plenty for a 53 cent banana.

So we went back to the guy, thanked him for the free banana, and then had Marcus pay for it since his lunchbox held the cash after all.

Anyway, I'm off to play a little video games before bed.

Be seeing you,

Jon