Three Kids & A Pear Tree

My thoughts have been on our sprouting children the past little while.  Hugo is 5, and as a five year old, he believes that he can do just about anything.  It's wonderful and trying to watch the excitement exude from his little body, a smattering of time-outs round out our days.  He starts Kindergarten in a few short weeks.  All day Kindergarten.  So I have these mixed feelings inside me of my own excitement for him and his growth, but I also am experiencing a surprising sense of loss while knowing all sorts of good things are before him.  We've been such a duo since his birth and now someone else, his teacher, will have this first of outside role model positions in his life.  I've been moody.  I am going to miss him.  My memories of my own Kindergarten teacher have faded, but I do remember that she was Hawaiian and I thought she was beautiful.  I also remember barfing into her out stretched hands one morning.

New words the girls are saying:  eye, outside, the beginnings of what's that, cookie, kitty, juice, apple, and hi.  Marlo says another very helpful word, poop.  This word brings on fits of giggles from Hugo.  He'll ask her to say it over and over and over.  I've had to remind him that it's best if we save this word for the privacy of the bathroom.  So, bath time is full of rolling giggles from Hugo requesting his little sister Miss Marlo to say "poop" over and over again. 

The poop word has me considering the beginnings of potty training the girls.   I'm scared at the idea of two naked girls running around the house in separate directions, peeing hither and yon, as I run crazily about with the Clorox and paper towels in hand.  One afternoon at my parents, my Mom said Marlo was intensely watching one of her wee cousins on the toilet.   Mom thought Marlo was putting two and two together.  Not two minutes later, Marlo strolled into the living room, dug into the diaper bag and brought me a diaper and wipes as she said, "poop."  I hope to start the potty training with Marlo and that Sabine will simply follow suit.  I'm hoping.  But I'm a big, fat chicken to start the process.