And so it begins...

Well, well, well…as my sister put it, we may have hit the terrible two’s with our little man.

Let me tell you a little hypothetical story, that may be, well, not so hypothetical. Let me take you back to last night. Time and place: my bathroom, 7:00 p.m.

Jackson loves taking a bath. He splashes, plays with his tub toys, and he pees. I realized that Jackson was beginning to associate the tub with pottying when he would point to the tub and say, “I go take a bath. I go potty.” In the tub…my tub…my garden tub. Me liketh that not so much. You see, Jackson is very stubborn, but unfortunately for him, so am I. I have established a firm rule that his cute little butt will not get into the bathtub until he goes to the bathroom (in the potty), no matter how long that takes. After a few days of this, he has just about come to expect it, and in all reality, the battle of the wills usually only lasts about 1 minute.

So, last night I was about to head to Wal-Mart when Jeremy asked me to give Jackson his bath before I left. That was fine. I happily got Jackson undressed, turned the water on, and asked him to go potty. He walked over to the step-stool, hopped up, and after about 30 seconds, he said, “I want to get in bathtub. I go potty,” and then he jumped down off the step stool.

I told him that he had to go potty before getting into the tub at which point he proceeded to squat down, look over his shoulder directly at me, and go to the bathroom on my carpet! I couldn’t believe it!! He quickly got a light spanking, which made him so mad that he started wailing, at which point he dropped his “dat” into the toilet. I fished it out, and poor Jackson had to watch me throw it into the trash, so all you hear from Jackson now is, “I want dat. I want dat. I go potty. I go bathtub.” It was rather sad. After he quit crying, all of 20 seconds later, he hopped up on the step-stool, did his business, and then asked to get in the tub. What an angel!!
So to summarize, in the course of about 2 ½ minutes Jackson:

1. Refused to potty
2. Changed his mind and went on my bathroom rug
3. Got a spanking
4. Got mad
5. Dropped his precious “dat” in the toilet
6. Watched his Mommy fish “dat” out and proceed to throw “dat” away
7. Pitched a fit
8. Quit crying
9. Went to the potty
10. And got in the tub!

Whew….this parenting stuff will wear you out!!!

In all seriousness, Jackson is a precious child, and although we are just beginning our adventures in parenting a true toddler, I can’t wait to look back on all these funny things and just laugh and marvel at how much he has changed, and will be changing in the near future. Who knows what might be next, but I can’t wait to see what else Jackson has in store for us!!