Andi’s exciting life.

I guess we’re potty training at the Gleeson house, although Falco is really doing the work and not requiring much “training.” He was keeping a dry diaper and using the potty when prompted more and more often, and I started putting him in underwear around the house sometimes a few days ago just to see how it would go. He figured out what to do pretty quickly and used the potty a lot Saturday, most of the day yesterday, and all day today. He even used the grown up toilet at a friend’s house yesterday and in a public bathroom today! Today he didn’t have a single accident in his diaper or underpants all day. I’m sure he would love me telling the whole Internet that he still hasn’t managed #2 on the toilet yet, but he is definitely talking about it and trying. We’ll see how things go, but I’m thinking we might have this potty thing in hand in a couple weeks. After today’s success, I may even take him to school tomorrow in underwear!

As a side note, if I thought my kid was cute before, he is out-of-control adorable in underwear. A skinny toddler in firetruck or monkey briefs and a T-shirt is just too much.

I’m looking at Shoebuy right now to find new shoes for Falco since he has gone up a size again. (Yes, I prefer Zappos, but Shoebuy is having a 20% off sale.) I just found one pair called Snotrocket and another called Barforama Oy vey. These shoes are even made by Stride Rite, a big name brand in kids’ shoes. Is this really the kind of thing male children like? Not only would I not buy any shoes with such tasteless names, I’m hoping that they won’t appeal to my kid. Surely he’s too classy to wear such a thing.

After nearly two years of being with Falco for 99.8% of his waking hours, I was starting to think that another year before starting preschool sounded like a l-o-n-g time. He is so social and busy and energetic and thrives on routine, so it seems like he is ready for something like that now. All the preschools we’re considering don’t start until 2-1/2 years old at the youngest though, so I figured we would just wait until next fall. Then I got an email…

Someone posted to a local parents’ email list about a parent-run childcare co-op for kids 18 months to 3 years. They call it pre-preschool. The program is 9-12 Monday through Thursday, and your child can attend two or four mornings per week. Each parent works half the days their kid is there, so you have one or two workdays and one or two mornings of childcare. When I first read about it, I was interested but thought I wasn’t ready to leave Falco yet. But then I kept thinking about it for the rest of the day and mentioned it to Matt. He thought it sounded like a great idea, and I was starting to think so too.

Before I knew it, I was signed up for a tour after Labor Day and an info night later that same week. I really liked every parent and kid I met, so the only deciding factor was whether Falco would like it or not. His first time there, he kept going to the gate and saying, “Go!” which made me a little worried. I took him back for a second visit the next week, and he started playing well right away. I decided then and there that we were going to sign up for two mornings per week, and last we attended our first full morning!

This week, I left him for about 30 minutes while I went to have a coffee, and he did great. I think I’m going to stay with him most of the time for a couple more days and then try to leave him for at least two hours one morning next week. It’s a big step for both of us to be away from each other, but it’s only three hours per week. Now that he is entering the terrible twos (sorry, Falco, but it’s true), I think I need a break to keep my sanity, and I think this can help him build some independence. Also, since we don’t have any family around, it will be a good opportunity for Falco to build relationships with other adults.

Here is a movie of his first day of school. It’s hard to hear, but he is saying, “School, yeah! School, yeah!”

I have been so busy living my life the past couple weeks that I haven’t had time to write about it, but I’m going to catch you up. Adelaide has already been home for three weeks now, and she is doing pretty well. She has some side effects from the steroids and seizure meds, but she is mostly herself. She started on a chemo drug called Ara-C that has been shown in clinical studies to significantly improve the lifespan of GME patients, so hopefully that will be successful. It is injectable, so I have to give her shots at home twice a day, four days per month. Now that this treatment has started, we will start to taper her other meds next week. I’m nervous about that because there is a risk of her getting worse again, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.

In other news, we took Falco to Seattle over Labor Day weekend to go to PAX. The only other time we have travelled with him was our trip to Mississippi when he was eight months old, so we were nervous, especially about the flights. Our worries were not completely unfounded, as you might expect, since we were going to be trapped on a plane with a very active 21-month-old. We got through it, but not without a lot of squirming and whining and seat kicking and crying about ear pain and squealing every time the PA system turned on, etc. We couldn’t really engage him in any activity; he wouldn’t sleep; and on the way home he got so frustrated that he started hitting us. We couldn’t do anything about it for fear of causing a meltdown, so we had to just take his bad behavior and all be miserable.

The good news is, when we were actually in Seattle, he did great. He slept well in the Pack and Play the hotel provided, and he was in a pretty good mood and excited to see new things. We couldn’t really do much of PAX because it was crowded and filled with a lot of stuff he wasn’t allowed to touch, so we spent a lot of time in the room. Overall, with the tortuous air travel, such a quick stay, and missing most of the conference, I don’t know that it was worth the trouble and expense. It was fun to go be with a bunch of fellow nerds for the weekend, but we were all happy to get home.

Falco loves it!