Micah

Micah has had a busy past few weeks!  On the Wednesday before we left for Ohio, while I was at my OB appointment and all his brothers and sisters were otherwise engaged and not really paying any attention to him, he decided to be helpful and feed the fish for us.  So he dumped an entire ziploc snack baggie of fish food into the tank.  None of us realized anything was amiss until Bob got home and noticed that there were flakes of fish food all over the place around the tank--and hey, there was a layer of fish food flakes coating the gravel at the bottom of the tank as well!  This little episode brought back memories of the infamous microwave incident almost 2 years ago . . .  We commenced clean-up operations, trying to scoop out the food with our net.  We actually got out quite a bit, but it was a pittance compared to the amount still left!  So we had to call in the big guns--Thursday morning Amanda L came to the rescue, with her gravel vacuum thing, which worked amazingly well, as well as some water clarifier stuff.  She left all her supplies over here, so Thursday, amid all the packing and general chaos of getting ready for a big trip, we also vacuumed out the fish tank a few more times.  Fun!  I was not at all sure the fish would survive all this, since we left on that Friday for a week.  But when we got back home, amazingly all the fish were happily swimming around.  Whew!  So we reduced the charges to "attempted murder"--ha!  Micah has now definitely been told very clearly not to touch the fish food or really anything at all related to the fish, in hopes that there will not be a repeat attempt.

Micah's next big event happened last Thursday, when he went in for his first dentist appointment.  I know I didn't take the older boys in until they were 4, but hey, everyone else is going now, so why not.  Caleb had to get some sealants put on, so I made an appointment for Micah at the same time.  He was very excited about going, until the hygienist came out and actually called his name, LOL.  Then he got all mulish and stubborn.  I went back with him, which is a first for me.  The hygienist was an absolute saint, so kind and patient.  Micah glared at her and was not at all interested in the chair going back, so she pretty much stood up and cleaned his teeth all hunched over.  Eventually Micah sort of relaxed and watched the movie, so she was able to get done.  And by the time the actual dentist came by to examine his teeth, he even was okay with reclining.  Everything looks good, thankfully.  The whole time I alternated between reminding him to obey Mommy and do what the lady was telling him to do, and telling him that only big boys go to the dentist, and he was a big boy.  He was pretty happy when it was all over, and he got a new toothbrush and bouncy ball, so maybe next time he'll have a more cooperative attitude.

All the talk about being a big boy was part of a larger conversation we have all been having with Micah lately.  You see, Micah turned 3 on April 9 and still wasn't potty-trained, the latest so far of my kids.  In fact, he really didn't have any interest in *being* potty-trained.  He would pee on the potty when asked, but with the exception of only one time, he refused to poop on there, and he never peed on the potty of his own initiative.  So we talked about how Nathan, Luke, Caleb, Jonathan, and pretty much any other boy is in his life peed and pooped in the potty and wore big boy underwear--except Drew, who peed and pooped in his diaper, and was a baby . . . and Micah, who also peed and pooped in a diaper, so he must still be a baby as well.  Unfortunately, this air-tight logical argument did nothing to sway him, but we certainly brought it up often enough!  And I told him that his days as a "baby" were numbered, because when we got back from Ohio, he was going to start wearing big boy underwear and going on the potty because I had had it with changing his diapers.  Unfortunately, the week right after we got back was full of various appointments, as well as picking up the girls and getting Nathan ready to go, so it really didn't work to just immediately launch into my plan.  I was counting on starting the whole potty-training thing the following Monday.

Well, the Friday morning after the dentist appointment, Micah pitched a huge fit about getting his (incredibly soggy) morning diaper changed, so I decided I would just not put on another diaper.  After he settled down, I told him to pick out a pair of underwear, and he picked a Cars pair.  I had basically no expectations, but later that morning, while I was doing laundry, the surprising news came that Micah had pooped on the potty!  Of his own volition!  We were all shocked!  And then he just kept right on going both pee and poop, all by himself, and he's been dry each morning since then.  So . . . that's that, I guess.  Here is Micah, enjoyed a little lollipop as a reward for his labors.

If you had ever even hinted that Micah would be the easiest to potty-train, I would have laughed myself out of the room!  But you know, potty-training (and learning to read) are skills that come to most kids pretty easily when *they* decide they are ready to do them.  So (in both cases) you can work and work and work, and be very frustrated because of a lack of progress, until *voila* the light switches on and suddenly they take ownership of it themselves and want it.  I am SO glad that I didn't try to potty-train Micah earlier, when it would have been a huge battle of wills (because everything else certainly was, and things like sitting in the carseat and getting buckled were much bigger issues to me than going on the big potty!).  During the school year, I really don't have the bandwidth at this stage of my life to constantly remind little people to try to go potty, and I definitely don't have the time to sit there and read hours of books to them while they try to decide if they need to go or not!  So maybe this will encourage someone whose child is really fighting something like potty-training.  You don't have to make this the hill to die on.  Eventually they will want it, especially if you are continuing to work on their attitude in other areas of their life!

And that brings me to the last new big thing for Micah--swim lessons!  He and Faith are taking swim lessons for 6 weeks.  Their first one was today.  Micah was (again) somewhat mulish at first, but the teacher was so patient.  He eventually was happily putting his face in the water and kicking around.  Faith is fearless in the water, so we thought it would be especially good to have her actually know how to swim so she is not a danger to herself and others!  Life is full of new and exciting opportunities for big boys and girls!