Possible that pigs are flying in Billerica...

Owen's hair-pulling obsession/vendetta/fetish/mission (pick one) may have disappeared as rapidly as it appeared, despite 6+ months of unceasing struggle with unsuccessful interventions. As of yesterday (4/2/09) he seems to have magically changed into a different child in group settings. I feel like I won the lottery (that is not an exaggeration...this has been a bad, exhausting problem) but I am trying not to let my hopes soar too high just yet. Cautious optimism...

Owen has been very aware of body functions for a while now, we've had the potty, but every attempt to tempt him to try it out, or even just to sit on it has resulted in 'No! No way! Nope! No way! Diaper! Diaper! On! Diaper!' so far. If I try to sit him on it when it's clear he's about to go (visualize trying to place rabid cat in full bathtub), he then decides to hold things in for at least another 24 hours. So mommy stopped thinking about pushing the matter. This week, however, a package from amazon.com containing a new (non-pinching) potty chair and a potty propaganda video arrived. I also bought him some Bob the Builder underpants (hideous!). The potty video was magic. It was so heavy-handed I thought Owen might be offended that I would underestimate his intelligence that much, but no, he fell for it hook line and sinker. The best part is the song called Diapers are for Babies, or something to that effect. It outlines how if you are still wearing diapers you are just a little, helpless baby. Babies need their mommies to do everything for them. They are slobbering flesh blobs (translation). Don't you want to be a big kid like these cool 3rd graders running around the playground? They are entirely independent and don't need their parents much at all. You can have all of this and more if you just sit on that potty and wear underpants.

No kidding, as the song played Owen stripped his clothes off and picked up the Bob the Builders. MAGIC!! He even sat on the potty NAKED (we've never achieved that, only 2 brief episodes with jeans on) in exchange for a steady flow of altoid mints (he loves them). I have no expectation of rapid potty progress (and honestly I'm not sure I want to have to run him to the bathroom at a moment's notice...what's so wrong with diapers?), but I like that we're making emotional progress toward the goal and all I had to do was pop in a DVD! So much easier than past attempts. This further confirms my suspicion that home-schooling would be a disaster for Owen and I. I think he responds to external side-door peer pressure much better than to mom-dispensed directives. But that's probably a larger logic leap than the evidence bears.


(walking in his Bob the Builder's like he's just dismounted a horse after a long day's ride...not sure about how these feel! kind of fancy free compared to a diaper!)

So much daily development, so little energy to write it all down. He's a TALKER! Wow. There is not a silent moment during our day. He is obsessed with the alphabet. He's starting to sing songs with me. He's a cuddler (love that). He's starting to catch onto the baby-in-mommy's-tummy thing and he give me some sidelong glances about it from time to time. He loves ice cream.

Additional pictures; recent haircut and most recently selected favorite outdoors outfit (didn't catch the whole thing on film, but it is daddy's respiratory filter mask, winter mittens and red laser goggles).