Sick and tired

What a challenging week. I've been struggling with another cold and premenstrual fatigue, and Jack, well, he's just been nuts.

We've been battling all week at nap time -- yesterday Jack wouldn't stay in bed and I was in and out of his room many many times, but he did finally go to sleep. Today, I figured that after a morning at the Discovery Museum he'd be tired out and ready for a nap. I put him in bed and flopped down to rest a bit. He was quiet for awhile, but then I heard him out of bed. I went in to find a mangled diaper and pee all over the bed, the carpet, and his clothes (he was "looking for my penis"). I put him in clean clothes and changed the sheets, but he was very wound up and it was pretty obvious he wasn't going to nap. I was so tired and emotionally worn down that I called Hans and he kindly came home from work early. The two of them went off to buy a new tire for Hans's Norton, and Jack fell asleep in the car on the way home. He woke up at 5:15, so we have no idea what will happen this evening. This is one of those days when I wished I had a job so I could have an 8 hour break from toddertown.

In other news, potty training is chugging along. He's been really good about pooping in the potty, and is willing to wear underpants sometimes, but most of the time he won't. I think we've drifted into the forbidden zone that parents of potty trained kids warn against -- going back and forth from diapers to underpants when you're supposed to discard the diapers and never look back. Oh well.

I've been giving him small gifts as potty bribes, and they have included little plastic animals. Black bear is now named "bear bear" as well as "teeth bear" (Jack brushed the bear's teeth with one of those small magnetic letters so popular with toddlers). Bobcat is just bobcat and beaver just beaver. These animals converse with Jack at bedtime and according to Jack, last night he told them how to be careful around scissors and knifes (sic) and cars and parking lots.