Happy 3.5 birthday, sweet Callum!

The absolute biggest event of the month has been potty training.  After our last (disastrous) Booty Camp weekend, I was worried that you’d have to go a size up in your wedding tuxedo to accommodate your diaper.  But this time, it went so much better.  The first day wasn’t so great, rife with accidents and loooong stints on the potty with no results.  Still, I considered it a step in the right direction, because on Round 1 a couple of months ago you refused to even sit.  On the first day of this round, you agreed to sit, but you refused to wear underpants.  I bought those Peppa and George Pig underpants just for you, since they’re two of your favorite book and TV show characters.  Still, since you were willing to go commando, we just went with it.  On Day 2 you had your first success, and by Day 3, we felt brave enough to go out to a restaurant.  It went just fine, with no profuse apologies to the staff necessary.

You still have some work to do, but I think you’re really on the right track.  You’re now happily wearing underwear—you were especially excited when I got out your brothers’ old Jake and the Neverland Pirates and superhero underpants from storage.  This afternoon will mark our biggest diaper-free adventure:  a trip to Coralville for our weekly  ice cream, piano lesson, and Co-Op shopping trip.  I’ll bring some back-up clothes and towels and hope for the best.  I have the feeling you’ll do great.

Photo by Denny

We’ve had some other good fun this month.  We spent a long weekend at a lake house in Innsbrook, Missouri, with Mubby, Skitter, Uncle Tyler, and his family.  You and your cousins had fun together, and you were very proud to catch a fish.  I’m so glad you got to spend time with your cousins, because that cousin relationship is such an important one.  While you have a huge extended family on your dad’s side and a decent chunk on mine as well, Aleks and Vera are your only first cousins.  You are also theirs, for the time being, and I hope you can continue to develop your friendship as you grow.

Photo by Gary Clarke

I was a little concerned that we might have to put our Summer Activity List on hold due to the potty training, but if you continue your success at this rate, I bet we’ll be able to get right back on track.  We have lots of things we still need to do:  the Fossil Gorge, more library visits, the splash pad, the City Park amusement rides, and more.  I recently learned that this is the last year the City Park rides will be around, which is a little sad, but also a bit of a relief.  Those things look like they haven’t had a tune-up since the Ford administration.

One of the larger challenges you’ve faced this summer is mosquito bites.  You are especially delicious to them for some reason.  I’ve heard that certain blood types are more attractive to mosquitoes than others, but I’m pretty sure our whole immediately family shares a blood type, so I don’t know why you suffer so much more than the others.  Maybe everybody gets bitten, but your highly allergic nature extends to your response to mosquito bites.  You do love anything with a spray nozzle, so bug spray is no problem for you, but it doesn’t seem to truly keep them away.  I don’t like to cover you in chemicals, so we go with the natural kind, and maybe that doesn’t work as well.  You’re probably just delicious.  The mosquitoes have good taste.

Your love of spray bottles has extended to Silly String, surface cleaner, and anything else that can squirt.  I got you an empty one to fill with water, which you enjoy spraying around in the bathtub.  You really, really wanted spray sunscreen at Walgreens the other day, but we decided to stick to the toy fan you chose as a Level 2 potty prize.

(Your dad would probably disapprove of such vulgarity, but I just might have encouraged the spray nozzle metaphor to get you to aim at a fragment of tortilla chip that ended up in your potty.  I’m not sorry.)

I’m so proud of your hard work, my little pup.  I asked you if I should start calling you “Mr. Success,” and you said, “I’m not Mr. Muh-sess.  I’m Callum.”  I’m glad you know who you are, not that I was worried about the strength of your personality and preferences.  I’m also glad that your personality has grown to accommodate some new ideas.

Have a good month, my sweet boy.

Love,

Mommy