It started last summer.

We were in the car driving through the city, heading home after dropping off a friend at the bus station.  Porter was babbling in the back seat.  Aaron and I were having a conversation up front.  We stopped at a red light.   That’s when I heard it.

“My money. My choice.”

I stopped mid-sentence.  ”What?  What did he say?” I asked.  Aaron shrugged.

I turned around to Porter.  ”What was that, buddy?”

He pointed to the Meineke sign on the corner.  ”Meineke.  My money.  My choice!”  Porter said, excitedly.

We were stunned!  How could he have learned that?!  Porter’s television habits consist of PBS…and then PBS shows on Netflix.

But some days later he started singing this one particular Queen song and that’s when we figured out what was up:  Porter was memorizing all of the commercials from The Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! hour of television that we watch after dinner!  That Queen song was featured in a local furniture store ad.  Even though this started this summer, his little brain has not stopped absorbing all sorts of consumer information.

On New Year’s Eve I was upstairs getting ready to head to our friends’ place.  Porter yelled a series of numbers up to me.  It sounded familiar.  Why?  Because it was a 1-800 phone number for an injury lawyer!  I had seen the commercial before–and apparently, so had Porter.

But it doesn’t stop at jingles or mottos or phone numbers; Porter can also identify logos.  He knows the logo for Home Depot, Giant Eagle, GetGo,  and Taco Bell (and he has never even been IN a Taco Bell) to name a few.  However, he does know the logos for more child-friendly things like Sesame Street and Thomas and Friends.  Those are more appropriate, but yet the whole thing is still unsettling.

I am amazed at Porter’s ability to identify these things.  I am also terrified.  We are exposed to so much advertising.  I know that I am numb to a lot of it (at least, I hope I am?)  But our kids are just sucking this stuff up.  Although we can limit some of the media our kids are exposed too, there is no way that we can really block it all out.  We just have to make sure our children aren’t consumed by consumerism.

I’ll just keep at that and if I happen to need an injury lawyer, I’ll ask Porter who he recommends.

A few weeks ago, Porter came down with a cold.  No big deal, just stuffy with a cough.  Typical winter cold.  It seemed to clear up just fine and by Saturday, January 21 he was back to his ol’ self.

January 2012

On Sunday, however, Porter wasn’t quite himself.  A little cranky.  Something just wasn’t right.  I saw him touch his left ear several times.  Was another ear infection coming on?  It had been a year since his last one.

On Monday morning, he seemed okay but I put my hand to his forehead and discovered that he felt a little warmer than normal.  A temporal thermometer revealed a slightly elevated temp of 99.4.  Since he seemed generally fine, we gave him some ibuprofen and sent him to daycare.  As soon as Aaron and Porter left the house I felt that I made the wrong choice letting him go.

Something wasn’t right.  Within an hour, I had texted Aaron asking if I should call the doctor.  Am I over-reacting?  Could it be an ear infection?  I asked for advice on the blog Facebook page and the result was the same: better to call the doctor and discover there is nothing to worry about, than to let it go and continue to worry.  I called our pediatrician and made an appointment for that afternoon.

I walked into that office with Porter completely prepared to hear that he had another ear infection, which would be his first in almost exactly one year.  But that wasn’t the case.  At the appointment, P had a temp of 101.9, swollen lymph nodes but no sign of an ear infection.  The doctor said it seemed like P was fighting some sort of upper respiratory virus.  He said that if things get worse to bring him back to the office, but for the time being, keep him comfortable.

I kept Porter home from daycare on Tuesday.  That fever just wasn’t budging.  He was getting the sniffles, but generally he was in a great mood.  If you didn’t know he had a fever, you would have never had known that he was sick.  He was just his silly, jovial self.

By Wednesday Porter still had the fever but now had developed a cough–a cough that I hadn’t really heard him have before.  I became concerned.  Day three of fever now with no improvement.  Back to the doctor we went.  Still no ear infection.  Lymph nodes were still swollen.  The doctor said that other than the cough, his lungs sounded really good.  Because Porter was still acting fine, the doctor said that if the fever was still there by Friday or if things somehow changed, to come back on Friday for blood work because maybe it was bacterial pneumonia.  That night after dinner, Aaron and I went to Porter’s room to get Porter for bathtime only to discover that he had put himself to bed–at 7pm!  He was fully clothed, under all of his blankets, snoring away.  Not that we needed more proof, but this was a SURE sign that Porter wasn’t feeling well.

That night he woke up at 11pm with a fever in the 102 range.  We gave him a drink, changed him into some comfortable jammies and he went right back to sleep.  He was up a few times that night, but would just cuddle with us and quickly fall back to sleep.  By the time he woke up in the morning, his fever was back to the 101 range.

Things on Thursday were a little different.  No longer was Porter playing all day–he really slowed down.  He was still in a great mood but spent a lot more time just hanging out on the couch watching Thomas.  He also fell asleep on me–something he rarely does anymore.

After his nap, Porter was a different kid.  He was miserable.  BUT no fever.  He didn’t really want to eat dinner.  Eventually, regular Porter showed up and I had hope that now that the fever was gone he would be fine!  However, he was up uncomfortable and coughing that night.   Thursday also marked Aaron’s departure for Houston where he was attending a conference for work.  Not only was I home with Porter all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday–I was now the only caretaker available.

By Friday, Porter was still fever-free but now had full on cold symptoms–hacking cough, runny nose, sneezing.  So back to the doctor we went!

Porter asleep while waiting for the doctor.

Diagnosis: Still just an upper respiratory infection.  We were told to keep on keepin’ on but to come back if something more developed.  Porter was noticeably less active and more cranky on Friday.  He really had no interest in eating.  Again, he fell asleep on me that afternoon.  He woke up really upset.  It was as though he had finally had enough.  Like his body was saying  ”I’VE HAD IT WITH THIS SICKNESS!”  He was so upset that he launched himself into a coughing fit that was so violent that he made himself vomit.  It was terrible.  He managed to eat a little bit of food at dinner, but it was a very long night.  Porter was up every two hours.  He slept in his bed, in my bed…he would just wake up miserable, wanting to be cuddled to sleep.

By Saturday, Porter was definitely feeling better.  He still had a runny nose and a cough, but he was running around the house like a little tornado destroying everything in his path!  On Sunday, Porter was also doing well.  Aaron and I both had to work that day, so Porter was with the sitter for the day.  She reported that P had very little interest in eating and also something new to the game: diarrhea.  His tummy trouble continued into the evening, but luckily not into the night.

Today we determined that P was well enough to return to daycare.  He returned home this evening with yellow-green goop in the corner of each eye.  Over dinner (another meal that Porter didn’t really eat) we decided that YET ANOTHER trip to the doctor was in order.  Guess what?  Double eye infection related to his cold/upper respiratory infection.  Also?  Contagious!

I’m thankful that our doctors always take their time with us.  I’m thankful that we are insured and that right now we have the money for four sick visit co-pays.  I am thankful that I didn’t have work scheduled for most of last week so I could stay home and devote my attention to my son (and that when I was scheduled to work my current boss was completely understanding.  Working freelance means I have no sick/vacation days at any job I have.)  I am thankful that this will pass.  And I am SO grateful for all of  you who followed this sage along on Facebook–thanks for your words of encouragement and get well wishes.  I’m hoping this sickness saga wraps up soon.  I’d like my happy, active Porter back, please.

Porter knows that I paint things as part of my job.  For months now he has thought that I painted various pictures around our house–none of which I had actually painted.  And those pieces in our house that I actually did create, he didn’t believe that I had made them.  In fact it wasn’t until recently–the other night, in fact–that he finally realized that his mom had painted the fun paintings of animals in his room.

The following conversation transpired:

Porter:  (pointing to the paintings around his room) Mom, you paint those for me?

Me: Yeah, I did paint those for you.

Porter: Before I was boring?

Me: (Confused, I take a second to process what he just said.  Then I figure it out!)  Oh no, not before you were boring, buddy–before you were BORN!

The title of this post was actually created by my friend Karyn who said that she really enjoyed the What Porter is Saying portions of the monthly update posts.  She referred to his sayings as “Porterisms” and now here is an entire post devoted to just that.

As you know, I’ve been a bit behind in the blogging as of late so Porter has said A LOT of funny things in the last three months or so.  Here are the phrases I remember:

• The other night I was getting ready to go to work.  Aaron was in the kitchen.  Porter was in his room playing with his trains.  I heard Aaron start asking Porter about his day.  They were chatting back and forth when Porter interrupted Aaron: “It’s not funny, Dad!  NOT FUNNY AT ALL.”  But Aaron wasn’t laughing and made no reference to anything humorous, so we have no idea where that comment came from.  Porter keeps saying it–especially when he is getting scolded.  Last night, I sternly told him that it was inappropriate to squeal at the dinner table to which he responded very seriously, “It’s not funny at all.”
• Porter now likes to announce his bodily functions.  He will run into a room and say, “I pooped!” or “I pooping!” or “I peeing!”  It does not matter who is around or where we are, by the way.
• “Smiley Face Cookie House!”  That’s Eat N’ Park.
• “Star Store!”  That’s Macy’s.
• “Cay-ron”  That’s a crayon.
• “The M car.”  That’s our minivan.  It’s a Dodge and he think that the ram emblem makes an ‘M’ shape.
• He has entered the dreaded “Are we there yet?” phase.
• “Tea time.”  Though he definitely heard the term from some episode of Thomas and Friends, he actually isn’t referring to a late afternoon cuppa.  ”Tea time” is what is calls dusk or dawn.
• “Tea whistle!”–that’s what he says when he hears the tea kettle sound.
• “Take a break.”  Porter tends to get all wound up and over-excited at daycare, so his teachers frequently tell him to sit down and “take a break.”  Now he will tell himself to take a break while at home, particularly when he is on the verge of a Time Out.
• “I don’t want to know!”  Aaron and I were talking in the kitchen while I was making dinner some night last week.  We laughed and something and then we heard Porter chime in from the living room, “I don’t want to know!”
• “On time in two weeks!”  Honestly?  We don’t know what this means.  And he says it ALL the time.  He’s been saying it for at least six months!  Aaron and I have tried to figure it out…we know that being “on time” is something very important on Thomas and Friends.  The only thing we can come up with for the “two weeks” part is from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, in which the caterpillar stays in his cocoon for two weeks.  Why does he put the two things together?  Beats the heck out of us.  And we can’t even use context clues to help us figure it out because this phrase is usually surrounded by a rapid-fire string of toddler gibberish.  ”On time in two weeks!” is usually the only thing we can make out of the whole thing.  We hope to figure it out someday…

If you have enjoyed this post then you may want to check out HowToBeADad’s My Kid Just Said page on Facebook where parents can post the amazing, confusing, hilarious things that their children have said.  It is amazing.  Aaron and I have both laughed ourselves to tears while reading some of them–especially the “house carrots” one.  Enjoy!

Can you believe that I haven’t done a monthly update since OCTOBER?!?  With my crazy work schedule, the holidays and then my grandfather’s passing I just let months slip by.  I have so much to tell you about!

P delivers a spirited rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on Christmas Eve

What Porter is wearing:

• Size 2T shirts, but with a few 24 month shirts still in the mix.
• Mostly size 24 month pants with a few 2T pairs creeping in.
• Still in size 5 diapers.
• Would be in size 2T underwear if he let us put them on him

What Porter is eating:

• He is on a huge vegetable kick right now.  As always, raw vegetables ONLY.  I just can’t believe that a toddler can enjoy salad so much.
• Chicken use to be his favorite, but now it is hit or miss.
• His “on again/off again” relationship with wheat toast with peanut butter is back “on.”
• He still refuses typical toddler favorites such as pizza and macaroni and cheese.
• Spaghetti and meatballs use to be our “go to” food since we knew he loved it.  We were eating it once a week.  Now?  He could take it or leave it.  Depends on his mood.
• He likes olives now.  Green only, please.

What Porter is Saying:

• A lot.  So much, in fact, that a whole post is in the works solely devoted to what he says on a daily basis.

What Porter Likes These Days:

• Cuddling under “cozy blankets.”
• Books books books.
• Thomas Thomas Thomas.
• Timmy Time
• Puzzles!

What Porter Doesn’t Like These Days:

• Wearing his winter hat.  He’d rather wear his hood on his coat.
• Using the potty at home.

What Porter is Doing:

• Imagining.  In the last three months, his imagination has blossomed.  It is just amazing to watch him play and to play with him.  He likes to hide from “monsters” by sitting on his bed with the covers pulled over him.  He isn’t scared of the “monsters” or anything, he just thinks it is fun to hide from them!
• Having a “party”–which means he turns the overhead light on in his room and spins in a circle until he falls down laughing.
• Having a “kangaroo party.”  Same definition as above with the addition of him throwing his stuffed toy rabbit named Kangaroo up in the air.
• Cooking in his play kitchen that Santa brought him.  He only serves water and hot dogs at the moment.  And he keeps his eggs in the dishwasher.
• Playing trains!  Never gets old.
• “Reading” books.
• Hopping around on all fours pretending to be a frog.
• Running.  Always running…
• He can recognize his name and some words–like zoo and school.
• He likes to refer to himself by using his full name–first, middle, last.
• And…HE IS USING THE POTTY AT DAYCARE!!!  Not all day, but one time most days–sometimes more!

I don’t post videos much, mostly because I don’t record many videos.  However I did capture a few moments of Porter reacting to Aaron building Porter’s new bed.  When we told Porter he was getting a new Big Boy bed he shook his head and said he didn’t want a new bed.  You can see through these videos that he eventually changes his mind.

Some videos start in the wrong orientation, but it turns upright rather quickly.  Don’t be alarmed!

ROCK AND ROLL!

Over the summer we slowly started collecting new furniture for Porter’s room.  He is growing up so fast and it was apparent that the crib-converted-to-toddler-daybed just wasn’t going to cut it through the end of the year.  So we started shopping around for some new items as well as some “new to us” things to help makeover his room without breaking our already strained piggy bank.

First, we found a twin bed frame on craigslist for $40.  I painted it white.

I bought new Big Boy bedding 50% off at Target!   I got a few sets of sheets during the Labor Day sales at Kmart.

Another craigslist deal: we found an Ikea dresser for FREE–and it happened to match the Ikea nightstand I bought in ’05 when I was living in New Haven.  The dresser had a broken drawer glide, but Aaron fixed that.

Then we bought Porter a twin mattress for his new bed.  No box spring quite yet (it would make the bed a bit too tall for him right now.)

Finally, we bought a pretty sweet storage unit brand new from Ikea and storage bins from Target (itso bins fit PERFECTLY.)

Here are just a few photos of the new set up.  I actually took these photos before the room was completely finished, so no shots of the dresser yet–sorry.  (We’ve been super busy.)

We just recently got a fourth blue bin for the bottom shelf.

Porter LOVES his new room.  And since we are still working on potty training, we actually use the top of the storage unit as a changing table (with changing cushion.)  At the time I took this photo, the changing table was still in the room (since it was too heavy/awkward for me to remove from the room by myself.)

Next post: Porter helps to make his bed.

Okay first off, do you know how hard it is to talk about the potty to Porter and not accidentally say the word “port-a-potty”?  Ugh.  So difficult.  It honestly never crossed my mind when picking out his name.

But anyway…

Since Porter decided “Hey, this potty thing isn’t so bad!” every day has been different.  We haven’t pushed him; we’ve let him lead when, where and how long he wants to practice on his potty.  That means some days he doesn’t even look twice at the potty and that’s okay.  During the week we are only with him for an hour in the morning and then a few hours after daycare.  That leaves little time to really work with him on the potty.  However this past weekend, Porter wanted to sit and hang out on the potty whenever we were home.  He peed in the potty THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY on Saturday!

Needless to say we are very proud of Porter’s progress, but there have been a few things we’re getting use to.  Porter now likes to drop his pants, take off his diaper and sit on the potty for long periods of time.  He carries the potty around the house with him, diaperless, pants around his ankles, so he can do activities in other rooms.  He bellies up to his train table while on his potty.  He wanted to watch Daddy work on putting his new dresser together, so Porter set up shop in the dining room.  This potty migration means that Porter isn’t always situated on the potty when he “goes.”

Accidents happen.

But for the most part, things are progressing.  Onward and upward!  Or outward…?

For months I have been fretting over Porter’s lack of interest in the potty.  Pretty much every parent I know as well as his teachers at daycare told me not to worry, he is still young and there is still lots of time for him to become interested in being diaper-free.  We noticed that on his notes from daycare this week Porter was at least sitting on the potty four times a day most days of the week.  This was a change from two to three times on the potty three times a week.  Aaron and I were glad that his trips to the potty, even without “remnants” left behind, were growing in frequency.

Today I geared up to paint our bathroom.  The landlords had painted it a dark blue-green, which in my opinion didn’t go well with the 1970s mustard yellow tile on half the walls and floor.  I was happy to finally have the time to change it.  I cleared the small bathroom of its contents which means that Porter’s potty chair went in Porter’s room.  Porter’s potty had been in his room before, so I thought that he’d just sort of ignore it like he has been doing.

SO NOT THE CASE!

He walked right over to the potty and sat on it.  Something he hasn’t done at home IN MONTHS!

Aaron and I both exploded into applause and cheers.  There were hugs, kisses and lots of high-fives.  Porter LOVED the attention, so he sat on the potty again.  He got the same, very enthusiastic reaction.

And just like that, it happened.  Porter wanted to get to know the potty!

In the beginning of the afternoon, Porter was just sitting on the potty with his pants on.  But as the afternoon progressed, Aaron slowly worked with Porter and as I primed the bathroom (twice, ugh.)  Through lots of encouragement and songs made up on the spot, Aaron managed to teach Porter how to drop his pants then sit on the potty.  At one point as a show of solidarity, we all were pantless in Porter’s room at Porter’s request.

That’s what family is all about, right?  Supporting each other.  Even without pants.

We read a lot of book while he was on the potty, including The Big Boy Potty by Joanna Cole which Porter really, really likes.  It really is the perfect book for him right now.

Porter just couldn’t get enough of the potty and because he was so interested–for the first time EVER–we didn’t want to stop encouraging his behavior.  While I was still priming the bathroom, Aaron eventually got Porter to sit on the potty without a diaper.  This was a huge step for us.  There was lots and lots of cheering!

Then things took a turn we didn’t expect.

Now that Porter knew how and was encouraged to take his diaper off, he didn’t want to keep a diaper on.  He didn’t want underpants either.  We tried a swim diaper (because it was the closest thing to a pull-up we had) but that only confused him.  ”Swim trunks on?” he said.  As a result of no diaper, we did have one accident.  No pee in the potty though.  Later in the afternoon he peed in his diaper while sitting on the potty, but told us right afterward.

At one point in the afternoon he decided that he wanted to sit on the potty in the kitchen, so he dragged it from his room down the hall and planted the potty in the middle of the kitchen floor.  He sat there for quite some time.  He could have put the potty on the back porch for all we cared–we were just SO HAPPY that Porter was finally warming up to the potty!

We aren’t sure if today was a fluke or if Porter has finally entered this stage of Toddlerhood–but either way, it is rather exciting.  And we are praying that he keeps his pants and diaper on through the night!

I have to give a huge thank you to Aaron who did a great job both encouraging and entertaining Porter today–even though he was sick.  Thank you!  You did such a great job!

Have any good potty training advice or stories to share?  We’d love to hear it!

Saturday Porter officially turned two and a half years old.  Aaron and I had the following exchange while out to dinner that night.

Me: Can you believe that he is two and a half already?!  We’re halfway to three!

Aaron: We’re half way to five!

Me: jaw hits floor

And scene.

What Porter is Wearing:

• Finally graduated to size 5 diapers!
• Finally has officially outgrown the remaining pairs of 18 month size pants!
• A few 24 month and 2T shirts are getting a little small, but it really depends on the brand.

• He actually ate cantaloupe this month!
• Still completely uninterested in typical toddler favorites like pizza and macaroni and cheese.
• Still loves his tacos and guacamole.