Dear Connor: Month Thirty-Two

You did it again. This time, you just reached down your diaper and quietly pulled out handfuls of poo to smear on the walls while Mommy and Daddy were downstairs making the grocery list.

After Mommy cleaned the walls and Daddy cleaned you, we added one more item to the shopping list: 3T onesies. The onesies really just slowed you down, though — the next time, instead of disrobing or reaching down your pants, you reached up your diaper leg. Luckily, Daddy caught you before you had more than a little poop nugget to play with.

The peds suggested putting you in your pajamas backwards, so Daddy bought you some new, lightweight footie PJs and Mommy cut the feet off. We got you to wear them by telling you they were like Miss Elaina from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, who wears all her clothes backwards. You can’t get them undone, but you’ve somehow managed to peel them off of yourself intact via the head hole. Daddy’s next step of putting you down for naps with a onesie, then backwards pajamas, then a shirt on top seems to have worked so far. Granted, sometimes you still get your clothes off, but you at least haven’t gone digging in your diaper again.

Next time you play with your poo — assuming there is a next time — we will be putting you in a cold shower instead of a warm bath to clean you up.

Under the assumption that this interest in your bowel movements means good news on the potty-training front, we moved the potty chair to the upstairs bathroom and got a potty seat for downstairs. We’ve had a handful of potty successes at bathtime, but nothing consistent yet.

The entire month hasn’t been centered around your poo — well, maybe it has, but you’ve done other, less messy things, too.

You continue to love avocado, and ate ¾ of one for dinner one night, plus two bites of salmon and a bite of leftover falafel. You asked for a bite of baba ghanoush, then declared, “That’s too hot.”

When you throw a tantrum, you eventually end up being more upset that Mommy isn’t happy than about the thing that set you off. Once Mommy tells you she’s happy, or gives you a big hug, it’s like flipping a switch. You’re all better, too.

Mommy has so much to say about you — about how you’re growing so fast, and putting together full sentences, and learning new words, and memorizing your favorite books, and how you love to play outside, and how you’re discovering your sense of humor… but, instead, I’m just going to leave these pictures here to hopefully do some of the talking for me.