Super Caleb!

I can't get a Take That song out of my head.

Speaking of which, while flipping through channels this morning, Caleb wanted me to stop on a Take That video (Greatest Day), and he said, "I like that song." At which point I thought, Ya know, if I had a few more years, I could make this kid good and English. A football loving, beans and jacket potato eating, JLS-listening,"That's rubbish," saying English kid.

I don't have a few more years, though. I have a few more months. So I guess I'll have to settle for an American kid with English beginnings!

Oh, man. It's been a great weekend. For real.

Here's a lesson I learn over and over again. I really am only capable of being awesome at one thing at a time. I can be pretty good at a few things. I can be okay at a lot of things. But it general, I'm usually only awesome at one thing at a time. And that one thing varies.

Some weeks, I'm awesome at being Super Healthy Girl. Packing lunches, making breakfasts, planning dinners, hitting the gym. Some weeks, I'm so good at it, I should get an award. And in those week, man, the scale loves me! Unfortunately, I've never been good at maintaining momentum for those kinds of weeks beyond about 3-4 weeks. Sad, but true.

Some weeks, I'm Super Social Girl. Whether it's catching up on friend's Facebooks, or blogs, calling friends I haven't talked to in ages, having lunch or dinner with the girls, getting caught up with volunteer activities, being at all the meetings and events and parties and shindigs I can get my hands on. My mom's always called me a social butterfly. And there's a part of me that seriously thrives in this environment...for a while. Then I want to tuck my tail and run for a while.

Sometime I'm Super Mom. This is the one I enjoy being Super at the most. When it's right, it's SO right. And it's so much fun. And it's so rewarding. And so life-affirming. And when it's not right, it's so hard, and it's so exhausting and I'm battling all that stupid, useless mom guilt.

This week was not a Super Mom week. But this weekend wasn't too shabby! I won't say I rocked the casbah or anything, 'cause really, it wasn't about me. It was about Caleb. My sweet, cheeky baby became a big boy this weekend. He started using the potty! I mean, actually, really using it.

Not without accidents, of course, but by today (the second day of Potty Boot Camp Weekend), he wasn't needing urging or reminding. He was listening to his body's own cues. By tonight, he was even trying to pull down his own pants!

WHAT A BIG BOY!

I'm not kidding, man. There is something magical about that sweet sentence, "Mommy, I need to go potty!" He knows! He knows ahead of time! It's coming, man, and I need to get down to business! Of course, I kept him pretty pumped full of fluids so he'd have plenty of opportunities to recognize those signs!


The past few month of struggling with him and suddenly, he gets it. Something in his brain clicked and now we're actually working on the same page!

I realize our potty training journey is far from over. Tomorrow will be the first day we try him at daycare without a diaper. No lie, I'm a little nervous -- mostly about the long drive to school. Eep! But I'm excited to see his teacher and tell him what a successful weekend we've had. I'm looking forward to passing the baton to her and hoping they have a successful week with him, too.

PROGRESS! It's an awesome thing.

So yeah, it wasn't a Super Mom week. But it was a Super Caleb weekend, and I'm super excited about that!

By the way, I know I almost never mention my other two punk kids. So let me just show a little love for Zeus and Zoey for a hot minute.

Just look at this trouble-making face. Have you ever seen a face more prone to mischief? The plates in his front left leg will argue no. Tell you what though, you can't get a better cuddler than Zeus, if you can manage to get him to calm down for a moment.

Then there's Zoey girl. The diva. The slight, small, nearly hairless alpha dog who is perpetually cold and would live under a blanket if we let her. Caleb loves to smell her ears and tell me, "They smell funky!" It's true. They do. But I love those ears!

So yes. Successful weekend. We ate like crap. We never left the house. I barely showered. But whatevs, man. My kid peed on the potty! Take that and put it in your piggy bank! I, for one, am going to go have a Brother's strawberry pear cider in celebration. Wahoo!