Body parts, M&M's and potty training

Let's start with the good news. Brennan is using the potty! Pretty consistently. And staying dry most of the day.  At least for number one anyway. He's still pretty stubborn when it comes to number two. But hey, we'll take a win wherever we can get one these days. Even if I had to use m&m's to reward/bribe him into doing it.

We've been trying to encourage, without pushing, him to use the potty for several months now. Probably since right after we moved. Finally I decided we needed a little pushing because we registered him for preschool in the Fall and he has to be potty trained to attend. So, when we ran out of diapers last week I bought one more pack and declared them "for bedtime only." And I let him pick out whichever training pants he wanted. Side note: he must be picking up some thriftiness from me because he actually picked the CVS brand over the Pull-ups with Cars on them.

Well, that still didn't seem to help at first. So I tried to come up with some rewards to motivate him. Still not interested in anything we offered, even the $1 from Dada. Until I said "M&M." Those two little letters were like a magic key.  We were pretty confident he was already capable of it. It was just his stubbornness stopping him. Now we're one step closer to being diaper free! Woohoo! I'm not really proud of bribing him. Especially with candy. But boy will I be one happy mama when I never have to buy a diaper again and that day is very soon.

And just in case the potty training story doesn't embarrass Brennan enough when he's older I've got another goody for you. This is one of those cases where I'll just have to beg forgiveness later because it's too good not to share.

Lately Brennan has been obsessed with his nipples. He plays with them constantly. Watching a show, snuggling in bed, sitting at dinner, pretty much any time his hands aren't otherwise occupied. I even went to pick him up from child watch at the Y the other day and caught him with his hand up his shirt.

I'm not really sure if this is normal but we've pretty much just been ignoring it (to his face anyway, behind his back we laugh like 6th grade boys) and hoping it's a phase he'll grow out of soon. Or, at least before he starts preschool.

On a related note, he's been obsessed with the mole by mouth pretty much since he was a baby. He's been showing more interest in it again lately and calling it a "mipple." When I try to correct him and tell him it's called a mole he very matter-of-factly corrects me and insists its a "mipple." Perhaps it's time for me to consider removing the offending mole. Do people look at me and think I have a nipple on my face? That might be more embarrassing than having a child in preschool who plays with his nipples and still poops in his pants.