The week's highlights

On Tuesday, Todd got to see where Mommy and Daddy worked. Daddy picked him up and brought him by the office, where Todd shyly got to meet some of our co-workers, and draw on our dry-erase boards. Some of our co-workers sat on giant rubber balls instead of conventional chairs, but Todd apparently found that notion silly: "Why is he sitting on a ball? I don't want to sit on a ball-- I'll fall down!"

Wednesday night, while Mommy was out having pizza and beer with her colleagues, Daddy and Todd enjoyed a little pizza night of their own-- hitting K-Mart to look at toys, and then grabbing a pizza from the attached Little Caesar's.

Friday, Mommy and Daddy snuck out early from a farewell shindig for one of the VPs, and had fun picking Todd up at school together. He didn't quite know what to make of the sight of BOTH parents appearing there, but he sure as heck wasn't gonna complain! ;-)

Saturday was good for more Daddy-son bonding time, as the boys spent the morning running errands and playing while Mommy slept in and recovered from her flu.

And Sunday we had fun mattress shopping-- bought a new mattress for the futon-- a Tempurpedic kind, a real bargain-- full size at under $500. It makes the futon much higher than it used to be, much to Todd's amusement. He loves climbing that thing. And of course, Mommy and Daddy were clamoring to try it out, so Todd had to join in the fray, too!

This morning, as I was getting him ready for school, he piped up plaintively (as he had been doing all week): "I don't want to go to my new school!" But this time, unlike the others, he offered a reason: "I will have an accident!" Awww...

You see, Todd has been having accidents fairly regularly at his new school, and it all boils down to his being too timid to ask to go to the bathroom. We tried taking away the privilege of watching TV during dinner (we tape his kiddie shows during the day, and watch one 30-minute episode while eating-- keeps him sitting still) if he didn't stay dry during the day, but that didn't work.

And when Todd made his statement this morning, I hearkened back to an incident when I was about 8 or 9 years old, sitting in a school assembly, and wet my pants because I was too shy to interrupt and ask my teacher (who was sitting right behind me) for a potty break. If I, at 9 years old, was still too afraid to ask, how could I expect more of a 3-year-old? So, I decided to try the opposite tactic: rewarding him when he DOES stay dry. I mulled over my options-- what could I reward him with when he got home, still wearing the same pants I put on this morning?

Something to eat? No, wouldn't want to encourage junk food. A toy? No, that seems a bit much, plus the house will get cluttered and he'll just get spoiled. Then I hit upon the perfect solution-- stickers! I could give him a few to put on himself or Mommy or Daddy or the animals-- wherever he pleased. Then another idea: we bought him a calendar a few weeks ago for fun, now we could actually use it. I told him he could put a sticker in his calendar if he stayed dry, and if he stayed dry the entire week, we could do something special during the weekend. What luck, then, that this month there's no shortage of outside-sponsored activities, like St. Patrick's Day and Easter festivities. So, at lunch today, I shall poke around Michael's and see if I can find any good stickers and worthwhile little trinkets for rewards.

And we shall see if this new system will actually work. Wish us luck!