Direct Hit

Dear Sawyer,

You rocked potty training! Now, you always ask to go to the bathroom when you need to go and you stay dry when we go out, during naps and all through the night. Woo! Of course, there is still the occasional potty mishap here and there, like the one we had this afternoon. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and when we came home, I put you on the potty. You didn't sit far enough back, though, so your penis was pushed up against the front of the potty seat and pointing upward. As such, when you peed, the stream of pee shot up into the air and all over your face. Oh man, I will never forget your poor scrunched-up face as your pee sprayed all over your eyes, nose and forehead!

Love,
Mom

Hidden Figure

Dear Sawyer,

I just checked on you while you were napping and your shirt looked a little weird. Why did it look weird? Because you had stuffed your Sophie the Giraffe toy underneath and fallen asleep with it there. Haha!

Love,
Mom

Slip and Slide

Dear Sawyer,

You are a pretty cautious little boy. You don't like amusement park rides or even the swings at the playground. Before this summer, you wouldn't even go down the slides at the playground but now you do enjoy the shorter ones. And today, we found out that you enjoy the really tall ones, too!

We spent the afternoon at a playground in Central Park and on one side was a tall pyramid-like structure where you could climb up to the top and slide down a long slide to get to the bottom. You and GuhGaw were playing near the pyramid and JieJie was playing in the sprinklers at the other side of the playground. I was watching her and then when I turned back to look at you, you were flying off the slide! You had climbed up to the top of the pyramid and gone down the very tall slide! And it was a little wet from kids who had played in the sprinklers and then gone down the slide, so that coupled with the height of the slide compounded with the fact that you are on the light side meant that you picked up quite a bit of speed on your way down! When I looked over at you, you flew straight off the bottom of the slide and landed a good foot away! Luckily, you landed on sand so it was a soft surface but I gasped pretty loudly and ran over to you, unsure of what your reaction would be. It was touch-and-go for a few seconds there--your face was a little "Oh crap, what just happened?!"--but GuhGaw was laughing gleefully at your airborne adventure and that made you smile and laugh. Whew! When I got to you, you told me, "I go bump bump bump bump down the slide! I land in the sand!" I'm so glad you weren't traumatized . . . though I noticed that you didn't attempt to go down the slide again, haha!

Love,
Mom

Hold It

Dear Sawyer,

I gotta say, I crack up every time you have to go poop because you always stand up, put your hand on your butt and say, "I have to poop!" Then you run all the way to the bathroom with your hand covering your butt until you get to the toilet. Is the poop going to just drop out of your butt if you don't do that? Hahaha! It's so cute!

Love,
Mom

Me Three

Dear Sawyer,

When I left for Barcelona, you couldn't hold up just three fingers. When I came back from Barcelona, that was literally the first thing you showed me as I walked through the front door. You exclaimed, "Mama! I'm 3! I'm 3!" and held up just three fingers like a pro. GongGong taught you how to do that while I was away and now whenever anyone asks you how old you are, you don't answer verbally but just look at the person and silently hold up your three fingers. Haha! It's so cute!

Love,
Mom

Shared Bathroom

Dear Sawyer,

Our house has six bathrooms so we never have that problem where one of us can't use the bathroom because someone is already using it; another bathroom is always available. GongGong and PoiPoi, however, only have one bathroom in their apartment so when we were there this afternoon when you and JieJie had to use the bathroom at the same time, we ran into that very problem. The funniest part? JieJie was already sitting on the toilet when you felt the urge to pee but instead of waiting for her to finish and get up, you ran into the bathroom, pushed the step stool next to the toilet, climbed on top of the stool, pulled your shorts down and almost peed right on your sister. No!!! I ran into the bathroom behind you and picked you up before you did your business. You said, "I have to pee! I have to pee!" I said, "You can't pee on JieJie!" And you aren't that good at holding your pee sometimes and JieJie hadn't even wiped yet so I held you over the bathtub and you peed into the tub. Yep, that happened.

Hahaha! I still can't believe you did that!

Love,

Mom

Revenge Is Wet

Dear Sawyer,

Daddy, JieJie and I went to Barcelona for a week while you and GuhGaw stayed home with PoiPoi and GongGong. (We will take you on international trips when you are bigger!) It was the longest I have ever been away from you and I was worried about how you would handle it, but you were fine and PoiPoi said you behaved very well the whole time. When we came back yesterday afternoon and our taxi dropped us off, you and GuhGaw were standing in front of the living room windows and shouting, "Mama! Mama! You're home!" with big grins on your faces.

However, there were two incidents that proved that you weren't totally okay with me leaving you for so long. First, you refused to video chat with Daddy, JieJie and me during the first couple days we were in Barcelona. When PoiPoi held the phone up to you, you actually ran away and said, "No!" Fortunately, you warmed back up to us on the third day and talked to us every time we called after that.

Second, PoiPoi said you only had one pee accident the whole time we were away and that you were great about telling her when you needed to pee or poop. But within an hour of me coming home, you had not one but TWO huge pee accidents! You had the first one when you were playing with JieJie in the study. You peed a lot all over the floor but I figured you were just excited to be playing with JieJie again and didn't want to stop. But then just half an hour later, we were eating dinner and you peed all over your chair! And again, it was a lot of pee! Where did it come from? You had never had two accidents (and huge ones at that) so close together, even when you first began potty training, so the only explanation was that you did it as payback for me not taking you to Spain, haha!

Oh man. But pee or no pee, I am so happy to be back home with my baby bear! I missed you so much!

Love,
Mom