Potatoes in the Mist

So toilet training is an exhausting business. But it is also a learning experience for me. I think things were too easy for me for many years. School, except for math sometimes, was pretty easy and so I didn't face real challenges until I was in the work world. I am learning from toilet training that it is possible, and even good, to keep persevering with something even if it doesn't seem to be working at all. So far we have moved through the following stages: "Run and scream." This was a few months ago, when I figured out when E was about to poop and put him on his Sesame Street potty. The poop landed in the potty, but E ran off screaming. "The potty is a fun place, but not necessarily to pee in." We're kind of locked in that stage, but he did pee in it tonight. Some people suggest putting him in underwear when he gets off the potty, that this will work faster than using a pull-up. The downside: accidents. So I'm thinking I will use underwear at hom...

I got my first "Twins?" comment today. Oh well. I seem to be fated to hear these things in pregnancy. There is no point in getting annoyed....the people who are most annoying seem to have no clue that they are. I definitely have baby brain this time around. I forgot to tip my hairdresser, then went back to tip her. I left again, intending to get an Italian ice. Then I realized I left a bag of groceries there. So I had to go back again. I finished my purple hat, but put the picture up on Facebook, so you all have seen it. Now I am working on a pair of striped wristwarmers for a friend.

So I had a wonderful birthday today. Lots of people on Facebook, including some from the distant past, wished me a happy birthday. Then I took E to an appointment and because of the stinking heat, I took a car service (as my babysitter had recommended). It felt very luxurious and put a fun spin on the appointment. And E's eating has really improved. It used to be that he preferred soy milk to food, but today he ate cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, veggie burger, Cheerios, pancake, carrots and goldfish. So I was excited about that. We all had lunch at one of my favorite (veggie) burger joints and I took a swim in the afternoon. The pool was crowded beyond belief. Some people were just lounging around the lap lanes, not swimming. I went around them. I'm really looking forward to seeing Crazy Stupid Love.

So I've been knitting again. I'm working on a cables and lace cap in a pretty muted purple. When it's done, I'll try to put up a picture of it. A friend of mine from high school asked me to knit her a pair of fingerless gloves based on an Etsy picture. They're striped. Her preferred color palette is green, grey and blue. It's funny, a lot of friends of mine like those colors, but I usually knit in pink and purple, so it's an interesting switch. Went swimming today. For some reason I only like swimming when I'm pregnant. It can be a bit depressing, though, to see people with normal figures and wonder if I'll ever have one again. When I took my bathing suit off in the changing room, a woman rushed over and asked, "Is it coming out tomorrow?" (You can't make this stuff up.) I do wish people would keep their observations to themselves.

Perhaps it's unpatriotic of me to admit this, but I hate fireworks. I like the holiday itself; it was a nice relaxed day. But the fireworks are on the Hudson River this year (a few blocks away) as opposed to the East River (all the way across town) and it feels like the apartment is under siege. I'm waiting for it to be over. I'm reading Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan. For whatever reason, I don't usually like male authors, but I'm digging this book.