I found the key to his motivation.

Kiddle has never willingly participated in a diaper change in his life. That's not to say that he always resists a change, but I've certainly never been able to say, "Come over here so I can change your diaper," without him running the other way or at least ignoring me.

However ... tonight we were at B&N and Kiddle was playing with the Thomas train set. I caught a whiff of some serious stinky butt and said, "Kiddle, I need you put down the trains so we can go to the bathroom and change your diaper. We'll come back and play more when we're done."

Do you know what that little varmit did? He immediately laid down on the floor next to the train table -- still clutching a train car in each grubby little hand -- as if to say, "Go ahead. Change me right here." Um, sorry bud. Nice try.

Second day of preschool ...

and as suspected it was a bit worse than the first day. Kiddle started yelling NOOOO as soon as I pulled into the parking lot and it took him about 15 minutes to stop crying once I left. He was great out on the playground, but started crying again when they came inside. He was crying when he got to me. Argh.

I spoke to the director for a few minutes after class. She was basically wondering if it was ok with me if his teachers ignored him rather than trying to comfort him. YES! He doesn't know them so holding him is probably making it worse, plus he can be a bit dramatic (related to my mom and sister, perhaps?), so letting him work it out himself is most likely the best course of action.

My fingers are crossed hoping for some improvement next week.

Ahoy Matey!

Well, this afternoon was much better than the morning. Here's Kiddle and Little K dressed up as a pirate and Super Bunny. Guess who's the pirate?

First day of preschool ...

and I wish I had a better report. Lots of crying unfortunately.

I had hoped it would go smoothly. Last Tuesday we got together seven of the nine kids in his class for a playdate at the park. And on Thursday we went to an open house at the school so Kiddle could see his classroom and meet his teachers. He did well at the open house (I was in the room with him), but today he cried when I dropped him off and an hour later when they brought the kids up to where we were waiting, I could hear him wailing the entire way. Poor Kiddle.

But he didn't cry the entire time, at least. Laurie said he stopped within a few minutes and settled in with some markers, but he did have a hard time when they transitioned from one activity to another. And then when they got the kids' stuff together to bring them upstairs to us, he completely freaked out. I'm sure he thought they were taking him somewhere without me.

So hopefully he will react better on Thursday. But I suspect it might be worse because then he'll know I'm leaving him there. I'm not really surprised by all this; he's never been dropped off before and he's also in an intense stranger anxiety phase right now. We continue the gradual phase-in process for a couple of weeks. Thursday the kids are only there for an hour again. Next week is longer while we also add valet drop-off and pick-up (although somehow I doubt he'll react well to someone reaching into the car to take him! I'll probably be walking him in for awhile), then we're finally up to the full three hours in the third week. Six hours a week to myself! Woo hoo!

Mush Mouth

Big week ahead! Today was Kiddle's first speech therapy session and tomorrow is his first day at preschool.

I had him evaluated just before we went to Oklahoma. While he's had quite an explosion of new words in the last couple of months and he's finally consistently attempting to mimic what I say, he's just not understandable by anyone except me. And I can't understand him when he says something out of context. He hasn't seemed terribly frustrated so far. Mostly, I think, because his three best words -- more, done and no -- cover a wide range of situations. The therapist we met with in July thought he had a typical two-year-old boy delay, and while we don't need to be terribly worried about him, he does need some help.

So this morning we met with Ronnie. I was concerned about how it would go, considering his current massive dislike of strangers, but he seemed to feel pretty comfortable with her. And, even more impressive, he actually sat in his chair for much of the session. Oh, and did I mention he didn't say one word? Not ONE! At least not until we were leaving and he said "bye bye" clear as day. And at $145 per not-covered-by-insurance session, that was a pretty expensive sentence.

We've got a ways to go, it seems.

A little bit pregnant ...

Pregnant!

I'm shocked because I really didn't think I was (unlike every other month when I say to Mr. P, "I think I really could be pregnant this time."). With Kiddle I strongly suspected I was pregnant about a week and a half into it, but I hadn't really had any of the same signs this time ... except that I must have peed 50 times yesterday. So mostly on a whim today I decided to do a pregnancy test even though I'm not due to start my period for a couple of days. As I was doing it I was thinking that this was a total waste of a really expensive digital test. Imagine my surprise when I checked few minutes later and saw PREGNANT. Holy shit.

I'm thrilled though, because we have been trying kind-of-in-earnest since January and really-in-earnest with ovulation kits for a couple of months. (I know, I know. I said we were going to start trying last July but you have you heard? You have to have sex to get pregnant. Who knew.) I'm especially thrilled because my original goal was to have kids 2 1/2 to 3 years apart and this will put the gap at 3 years 1 month. (Well, my original goal was to have another one before I turned 40, but we passed that point in May. 40 it is! And isn't it the new 30?)

And, with Kiddle's lack of talking, I'm actually glad we're closer to 3 years apart. I think if I was having a baby right now it would be much more of a challenge with him. Hopefully we can get his speech on track by the time this baby shows up: May 14, 2009.

I'm keeping this post in draft form until I'm ready to share, so see you in November!

My Dad the Missionary

My dad left today for another mission trip to the Ukraine. I think this is his fourth trip over there? Third? Not sure, but in recent years he's become very involved in the mission council at our church. You can read all about their trip at the Church of the Servant in Ukraine link on the right.