3 posts in 1, because I don't feel like splitting it up

Sunday, our grocery store hit a new low (or maybe it’s a new high) in food-sampling. They were handing out samples of Coffee and Cream flavored Kahlua. Mmmm. Lucky for me 1) the samples were very small (maybe a tablespoon of liquor plus crushed ice) and 2) I passed the table on the way in, not the way out. Yes, I bought some (it was quite effective marketing). And its too bad I was shopping by myself or I could have stopped back through for another sample or 3 and let my husband steer the cart…

Trystan has been asking to use the potty more and more. It’s a good thing, except for a few small snafus. 1) He likes to stand up. That’s great, for a boy, except our toilet seats (that have a built-in toddler-sized seat) won’t stay up and he doesn’t care to hold it up while he pees. Nor does he aim. 2) He thinks tinkling all over the seat and/or floor is funny. He’s a boy. And he’s 2.

He also likes to change clothes. Some of it is his newfound expertise with dressing himself. He can do many shirts and pull-on pants all by himself. And shoes (but not yet socks). And he knows how to strip.

Last night, after he had already been dressed in his first pair of jammies (a tad early as a result of peeing all over his jeans, and laughing about it), I found him buck naked at the top of the stairs, holding a pair of Elmo underwear. “No yuckies on Elmo”, he told me. I went ahead and helped him into them (underwear are harder to pull up than sweatpants), and he then donned a different set of jammies (fleece this time, with feet. He did the big zipper all by himself). We made sure he went potty before bed, and verified that he had a waterproof mattress pad on his bed. He made it about 3.5 hours before wetting himself (and getting sent back to clean sheets wearing a third set of jammies plus a pull-up). Still, it’s a start, and he’s the one driving it. If he wants to start wearing “big boys”, I’ll happily send several extra outfits to daycare every day and save myself the cost of buying more pull-ups (though the money’s probably a “wash” compared to the extra water and detergent for the laundry).

Last night’s dinner: Panini with bacon, swiss, and sautéed mushrooms (and salad). Want a lighter version? Don’t butter the bread, and hit the gym first. Works for me. The great part about that dinner was the bacon grease. I turned around and sautéed the onions and mushrooms for today’s crockpot dinner in it. (I never claimed to be cooking low-cholesterol, btw). If I’d had an un-cut pork roast to brown, I would have done that in the drippings also, but I used chops, and figured that if I pre-browned them, they’d be total mush by the time we get home tonight (they might be anyway after 9 hours of slow cooking). Besides, the longer I waited to make those Panini, the less bacon was going to be inside each one…