Like Father, Like Son

Man, he looks just like Jason... You've got a little mini-me of Jason there, don't you?... I can't look at him without seeing Jason all over...

I've never been one who's good at telling which parent newborns resemble.  I'm getting better at  it with older kids, but with my own the only way I can see a likeness to either me or Jason is to pull out our childhood photos.  I wish I could see Jason in Ethan as much as everyone else does.  Seeing my favorite guy in my second favorite guy would just be awesome.  Since I lack this skill right now, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch Jason's character shine through Ethan as he develops and changes.

Jason's diligence and contagious laughter and strong, yet gentle hands... they're shining through our little boy.  And I love it!  Ethan adores his daddy and wants to be just like him.  With this knowledge, I should have been more quick to follow my grandma's advice when I shared my worries about Ethan's complete dislike of anything potty related.  Grandma told me, "You have Ethan start going to the bathroom with his daddy.  When he watches his daddy use the bathroom, he'll want to start doing it too.  Ethan'll want to be like his daddy."  Ok, confession time.  There have been times in the past when my grandma gives me advice and I make the unfortunate mistake of thinking that things have changed so much from the past and that surely there are better, more researched ways of doing things these days.  This was another one of those times.

Grandma was right about this one.  Last Saturday our only plans for the day were to spend as much time as we could moving the mulch from the "mountain" to the landscaping around the front of the house.  Ethan and Elissa quickly showed their interest and aptitude for conquering the mountain with their bikes and riding down.  At first, this scared me because they seem so little and the pile seemed so big, but they proved themselves quite capable.  Definitely their father's genes.

So, prior to Saturday Ethan screamed "NO!" when asked if he wanted to wear underwear.  Early Saturday morning, I heard Jason explaining to Ethan that today was the day.  Today he would start wearing underwear.  Jason took the lead on this one and I just enjoyed watching the process.  Ethan was resistant to the idea, but Jason persisted and by noon we had dry pants and many successes on the potty.  How exciting!  From now on, Daddy's in charge of motivating our little boy.  Plus, it's awesome to see a father's pride as his son seeks his likeness.


And as of this week, this is our favorite new friend.  We lovingly call him the Froggy Potty.  Ethan loves sitting on the little guy, and because Froggy's eyes are raised so high the spray stays nicely inside the potty.  This equals a very happy mommy.  I've been contemplating asking Fisher Price for commission on the product, because I've told so many moms of boys about it.  :)  The highlight of my week as a result of all of this was going to the grocery store.  I told my mom that it was very exciting to not buy diapers this week.  She pointed out that it's the first week in 4 years and 2 months that I have not purchased diapers.  Wow.  Truly the end of a season.