Holy shit y'all....the switch it flipped on!!!!

For a while I've been slowly resigning myself to the fact that Nixon will (a) take his fisher price aquarium mobile to college with him and (b) never potty train. Seriously, he's been more resistant to potty training than I have been to changing my conspiracy theories about Mac's 50-hour typhoon shift. (**cough** shot in the mouth **cough**) Meanwhile, it seems almost every other child I know of who is around Nixon's age has either started training recently or is totally potty trained, making me feel (once again) like a failure as a mother...but honestly it's not that difficult to do. 

So last night, I asked Nixon if he'd like to use the potty like a big boy like daddy does and wear undies like daddy does. 
Nixon said "dinosaur undies?!"
My reply was "Only if you use the potty like a big boy all the time. If you potty all the time, we'll get you dino undies."
Nixon said "Okay mommy, I want dino undies."

Then he got ready for bed and went to sleep.

This morning, after breakfast, I tried reminding Nixon of that claim. It took a few minutes, and a trip to Time Out for throwing a toy at me, but he finally decided to try Pull-Ups. After about 30 minutes of being dry he asked to take them off (cue the celebration for being dry for 30 minutes!!). The first battle was getting him to sit on the potty. I'd turned off the tv so that he didn't get distracted and forget to focus on his body's cues. Well, I moved his potty chair into the living room and turned on the tv and sat him on the potty. He fought me and I had to find a reward that worked for him....stickers? no. new toy? no. big boy undies? no. ice cream?? yes!!! Big boys who pee pee on the potty ALL day get ice cream after dinner!! THIS got Nixon to sit his ass on the potty for 10 minutes until he peed for the first time!! And then he peed again a few minutes later, walking over to his chair backing his behind over to it and sitting down to pee!!! And he did it again 10 minutes after that!!! 
After every pee, big or little, I'd do a little cha cha dance singing "pee pee in the potty, Nixon pee peed in the potty" and give him stickers from a super secret location! 
Nixon napped in a diaper, then we went back to the potty training. He had one accident which he helped Mac clean up and he peed through the Pull Up Mac put him in after he woke up from his nap (I was out running errands). Once I got home, with noise makers for the post-pee celebrations, it was back to naked potty training and he was all good!

Dinner came, he ate next to nothing like he's been doing lately, but he still got his "big boy potty reward" ice cream.  Turns out, Nixon is a lot more like Mac than I give him credit for.....food motivates him too! 

enjoying the well deserved reward of his day

So intent on enjoying that ice cream!

product placement! lol  Nixon dropped a spoonful and was concerned....He's such a Ball!

Pardon me but you mistakenly replaced my baby with this grown-ass child and I'd like my baby back!

A few weeks ago, Mac and I discussed what to do with Nixon's hair. It was growing long again and it turns out, he's got some thick and curly hair (like mine) which does not handle the humidity of the island very well. His whole head sweats, pretty much within minutes of being outside. His hair starts to curl in the back and the summer was only beginning to get hot. I had wanted to let it grow out. But, once again, I agreed to let Mac make a parenting call when he suggested we take Nixon for a REAL haircut this week. I knew it was in Nixon's best interest, because going from hot outside to cool inside with wet hair was only begging for him to get sick at some point...but I hated how freaking upset he got last time we took him to get his haircut.

So, yesterday during his nap, I snuck out and hit the store. I bought: 2 brand new Cars 2 shirts for him (1 that he'd get to choose and wear to his haircut in the morning), 3 new toy cars and a bag of candy he'd never had before but that I deemed safe enough for him to have. The toys and candy got put into his new backpack (which he likes) and the shirts hidden until this morning. Now, to some it sounds like I spoil Nixon, but after his meltdown last time we got his hair cut at the barber shop and how much LOUDER he's gotten in the months since, I prefer to think of it as well-prepared.

This morning Mac came home from work (he had a quick trip in for awards and the usual bullshit waste of an hour plus drive time), we all got ready and off we went. Nixon was excited to see his new tee shirts and got dressed with little fight. A couple pieces of candy got Nixon into the barber shop and the new cars kept him occupied while we waited for a chair to open for him. (Well, we did have one time out in the hallway because he got loud and wouldn't calm down, but it wasn't too bad and it was only once).

Nixon sat on my lap, with his new truck in his hand and accepted pieces of candy from Mac occasionally while getting his haircut. He didn't cry, or squirm (too much), or yell. He sat quietly and played with his truck and watched in the mirror as his hair was cut. He watched it pile up on the smock around him and on the floor at his feet. He was amazing! I'd ask him "You okay Nix?" and he'd reply "yeah I okay".

Then I looked in the mirror.

I saw me and I saw a child that might have been Nixon on my lap, except he looked much older than Nixon. My baby was gone. In his place was a grown child.

Nixon was done. He said "arigato" and gave the woman who cut his hair a tip. She squeezed my arm and said "okay momma?". I said "sure" and smiled. It wasn't until we were walking down the area outside of the barber shop, Mac next to me Nixon happily taking off a little ahead of us, that I felt the tears welling up! He looked too old! Too grown up! Too....not my baby anymore.

Nixon reminded me of someone, with his new short haircut, but I couldn't place it. Not until we got home and I was playing with the pictures I'd taken for this blog. He looks very similar to my nephew Adam, the last time I saw him. Adam was 4.5 when I saw him last and his hair was cut like Nixon's is now. There's a very strong family resemblance between the two, I can see it now. It made me miss Adam (who's with his father out of state, not deceased, just to clear any confusion up), but it also made me see Nixon as a little kid and not just my baby.

And now....... the pictures!!





Mac asked Nixon where his hair was, during a diaper change. Nixon's response?? "Hair gone". That it is, my friend, that it is.