We have movement!!

(Those are Grandma Carol's dog's eyes glowing in the background... waiting patiently with Grover for some of Raivis' lunch)

We have been working on the potty training thing pretty hard the last couple of weeks. I don't know what changed but Raivis has stopped having a complete meltdown at the mere mention of undies and he started peeing in the potty chair plus WEARING the undies. Actually... I know what the magic was, it was all Grandma Carol's persistence, patience, and work that got him to to do it. He has been dominating the pee thing, for about two weeks. He has had a few accidents along the way but he is getting really good at running to the potty even if he is playing (and wearing pants). Our poor friends have gotten to witness the magic that is parenting a potty trainer... Raivis was pretty pumped to show off his undies to a new audience. Now, the other job that has to be done in the potty has been a bit harder to master.
Raivis has had his eye on these cakes at the grocery store down the street. They are little round cakes that have been iced to sort of look like monsters from Sesame Street. Raivis calls them "Elmo Cakes" regardless of the color (he will specify by saying, "Green Elmo Cake" etc.). He wanted one so bad that we had told him that as soon as he went poo-poo in the potty we would buy him an "Elmo Cake" right away. He has been talking about that for two months or so. Last Thursday he finally did it! As soon as Nik and I got home he told us, "Elmo cake now!" He was so excited. So we walked down to the store and he picked the orange one. He proudly marched it up to the cashier to pay for it, of course Mommy can't help with such an important task. As soon as we got home he insisted on digging in and he said "want it big". Heaven forbid I attempt to cut the thing. I am sensing a huge burst of new-found independence with this huge milestone from the boy.

He has been on a roll ever since. And today, he went potty in public TWICE without batting an eye. What a kid. My favorite part is that look he gets on his face, you know the one... the one that says "I got this Momma... but you're still backing me up right?"