38 Comments

• 1. R J Keefe  |  June 10th, 2006 at 9:51 pm

  Wouldn’t it be nice if this just sort of went on and on until, say fifteen?

• 2. Kate  |  June 10th, 2006 at 10:01 pm

  and here i thought it was only little BOYS who are fixated on trucks! mine can name any and all construction vehicles, he can distinguish between a beetle convertible and just a plain old beetle and can spot a jeep at 30 yards. i’ve been assured that having a girl next would mean that i don’t have to repeat this endless pointing out of cars/trucks as we drive down the street, but you make me think otherwise. . .

• 3. JustLinda  |  June 10th, 2006 at 10:20 pm

  You have a poop corner too, huh? So many 2 1/2 year olds have poop corners. Seems like we should just be able to lay down some newspaper and be done with it.

  She’s a cutie-pie for sure….

• 4. Tree  |  June 10th, 2006 at 10:41 pm

  We are all great fans of Hattie Belle over here!
  I will never forget her sweet little face as she asked me to have a picnic with her…and how very much I enjoyed refilling her breakfast plate!
  Both of those girls are such dolls.
  You are too!
  I love you guys!
  Now I’M happy and beaming! You tell Hattie she makes me happy, ‘k?

• 5. Deb  |  June 10th, 2006 at 10:42 pm

  My youngest is 2 and a half too…when is her birthday?

  It is a lovely age, such adorableness! That is so we don’t kill them and eat them when they scream all the time when they aren’t being so adorable.

  At least mine is …..

• 6. the Mater  |  June 10th, 2006 at 10:59 pm

  “If you can’t behave, then we’ll have to leave and we won’t go to restaurants anymore and you’ll never get to do anything fun again for the rest of your life. You understand?”

  Oh my … this reminds me of your lecture to Sophie telling her that she will never ever have another cinnamon bun.

  Do you think you could turn down the threat level a bit? Poor kid, no wonder she needs a private poopy corner with momma scaring the crap out of her and threatening dire consequences for non-compliance of the house rules.

  I don’t remember telling you that you’d never get to do anything fun FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Just sayin’ ….

• 7. the Mater  |  June 10th, 2006 at 11:05 pm

  Me: Okay? You’ll behave super nicely like a big girl, with no tantrums?

  H: I will, Mom! This is a happy face!

  See? Look at that happy face - she got the message. Now, did she behave super nicely in the restaurant? If so, point made and you can reduce the threat level and increase the affirmation.

  She’s getting closer to three and you all should be having an easier ride from now on!

  Love, Mom/Babci

• 8. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  June 10th, 2006 at 11:06 pm

  How very special.

  You know… the associations imprinted on one’s brain during childhood can last for one’s entire life.

  I’m imagining Hattie’s conversation with her therapist 30 years from now:

  “I have these vague memories of my childhood… I remember being in my living room. I’m telling my mommy I love her, and my daddy and my sister, and… I’m… … pooping…”

• 9. Contrary  |  June 11th, 2006 at 7:59 am

  ‘She’s getting closer to three and you all should be having an easier ride from now on!’

  To that I say , loud and resoundingly and probably scaring the poo out of all my fellow campground dwellers, HA!

  The Twos were teriffic around here, we’re now into the terrible Threes.

  He cannot, is physically incapable of, saying ‘yes’. It’s a teensy little word and it cannot pass his lips. I’m pretty sure it’s part of his Teeny Tiny Terrorist union contract.

  Oh, and he never had a poop corner either. That kid would sit on my lap and go for it.

  Man, if he wasn’t so cute and smart and obviously advanced for his age I’d be feeling a little ripped off right about now.

• 10. Mom101  |  June 11th, 2006 at 10:08 am

  I’ll take two please. Doesn’t have to be yours, per se. Just an exact replica.

• 11. samantha  |  June 11th, 2006 at 12:09 pm

  Are you sure it was poop, and not sunshine coming out of her butt? Cuz to me, it sounds like sunshine and rose petals.

• 12. Mir  |  June 11th, 2006 at 12:24 pm

  Wanna trade? Two for one, maybe??

• 13. Barb  |  June 11th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

  Guess its all cause I said, please behave Hannah or THEY will put you in the CAGE too! jk

• 14. the Mater  |  June 11th, 2006 at 1:50 pm

  I think I’ll have to apply for custody soon …

• 15. Lisa S.  |  June 11th, 2006 at 2:08 pm

  Our little granddaughter Asia is two and a half and I totally agree….it’s sunshine and roses out the butt. She’s so sweet it makes my teeth hurt.

  Poop corner…that cracks me up…..

• 16. velocibadgergirl  |  June 11th, 2006 at 5:01 pm

  I’ll take two, please!

• 17. ChristyD  |  June 11th, 2006 at 8:55 pm

  What a sweetheart she is!

• 18. Another Jen  |  June 12th, 2006 at 2:00 am

  I gotta agree with Contrary — I like to say we never had Terrible Twos, we have Terrible Threes… my son was a dream at two… he’s pushing four in a couple of months, and I just sometimes keep chanting to myself, like a mantra, “This, too, shall pass… this, too, shall pass…”

  But he’s so stinking cute you can’t stay mad for very long!

• 19. Antonia  |  June 12th, 2006 at 9:15 am

  I want a Hattie Belle!

  I love the “gripping the sofa” detail.

• 20. Staci  |  June 12th, 2006 at 5:36 pm

  Too funny! My oldest is two and a half and has just started with “that’s my favorite!” So any time I offer her something (”Do you want your orange plate for dinner tonight, or the blue one?”) she gets totally excited and shouts “The orange! It’s my favorite!” And just the other day, while sitting on the potty (what’s up with that?) she took my hand and said “You’re the best mommy I ever had! You’re my favorite.” Wow. Now if she’d cut out the tantrums we’d be going someplace.

  I also LOVE Mater’s comment about the “for the rest of your life” threats. Just the other day I got the same lecture from my mom when I was talking on the phone with her but paused to let my 2.5 year old know that if she didn’t stop throwing her bites of ice cream she could never have ice cream again. Ever. Do you think grandmothers are just a little over-sensitive, or that this is one of those mistakes they already made and don’t want to see us make, too?

• 21. the Mater  |  June 12th, 2006 at 6:18 pm

  A little of both, Staci. At least the-grandmother-yearning-to-be-free in me thinks so.

  Kids are resilient. I just think grandparents are a bit more tolerant (and indulgent) because we get to go home and not have to deal with the temper tantrums any more :>)

• 22. Rina  |  June 12th, 2006 at 10:50 pm

  Contrary, wait til you hit four. The crying. The attitude. Oh, the going-on-sixteen-know-it-all attitude.
  My nephew is six. Six is really, really nice.

• 23. the Mater  |  June 13th, 2006 at 9:13 am

  Yeah, Freud had some things right: the latency period of early school years when the little munchkins are willing to be good little boys and girls and their hard wiring calms down for a bit.

  Of course, there always will be exceptions to the rule :>)

• 24. kt flynnie  |  June 13th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

  i love the h. belle…oh yeah and that other adorable child what was her name again…ah yes sophie

• 25. Ren275  |  June 13th, 2006 at 2:36 pm

  Can you send the hearts and flowers this way? My 2 1/2 year old is acting like a crazed mental patient this week………ugh!

• 26. Lou  |  June 13th, 2006 at 3:54 pm

  I wasn’t aware this blog was fiction lol!

  Oh, if only there were more days like that!

• 27. Ana  |  June 13th, 2006 at 5:44 pm

  Love Ren275’s crazed mental patient simile. I’ll now be using it frequently

  I LOVE the sunshine-y moments! Corwin has one every time I pick him up from pre-school. Not that he actually wants to *leave* or anything, though. The sunshine doesn’t always last all the way out the door.

• 28. KirstenSF  |  June 13th, 2006 at 6:40 pm

  Enjoy the happy times, in fact, all you moms of tots should write ‘em down (ala Jenn) so you have something to look back on when the lil darlings hit those effervescent pre teen years. My 8year old is still a sweetie, but sometimes I’m amazed her 13 y/o sister is still among us, if you know what I mean (LOL)….beware, coz around 11-12 the Wild Mood Swings begin, and you start to wonder why you never seriously considered a boarding school…..seriously, I am soooo glad I thoroughly scrap booked and journaled!

• 29. John  |  June 13th, 2006 at 6:44 pm

  Mater, whatcha smokin’? It must have this funky, sweet kind of smell.

  It gets better after two? HA! Two was great. Three was still pretty nice bu getting a bit challenging. Four… wow, OK, this isn’t easy. Five? Holy crud, whose child is this demon? Six? I think we’re going to need to install a bomb shelter in our basement. Not sure if it’s for her or for us.

  Gets better after two? Oh, you fools…

• 30. the Mater  |  June 13th, 2006 at 8:35 pm

  Sigh, I was just trying to inject some psychological theory into the mix. But then I have to remember that Skinner kept his own kid in a “Skinner box” which probably looked a lot like that photo of Sophie a few posts back :>)

  Maybe I’ve been brainwashed but grandmotherhood seems to erase some of the more traumatic memories of the early years … that, or what I’m smoking …

• 31. Amanda  |  June 14th, 2006 at 3:45 am

  We put a potty training chair in our poop corner - sadly we got no sunshine or flowers. The sunshine came after she came to terms with the fact that I was not going to give her newborn brother away or put him back. “I like our old home - the one without the baby.” Fortunately, now I have two sunbeams.

• 32. the Mater  |  June 14th, 2006 at 8:40 am

  LOL, actually, in our family, it’s a “poopy corner” - the “y” at the end makes it cuter and more endurable.

• 33. The Homosexuals  |  June 14th, 2006 at 12:00 pm

  Hattie is soooo cute. She can come sit in our poop corner any time.

• 34. kt flynnie  |  June 14th, 2006 at 12:29 pm

  hey hey mater whats with all the psych. babble?…Maybe give Piaget a shot. :-p

• 35. Coley  |  June 14th, 2006 at 6:30 pm

  Great!! H doesn’t seem too concerned over your “be good or else threats” Has she got you figured??!!!

• 36. JGS  |  June 14th, 2006 at 10:04 pm

  It is amazing how many sweet and special moments occur when they are pooping. I found that my little girl and I started having special time together when she would need to go to the potty. She would also, in the throes of pooping, tell me she loved me. There is something intensely intimate for them in sharing their bowel movements with us, I think, and I was amazed at how it affected our relationship.

  Of course, it could be just your girl and my girl.

• 37. Amanda  |  June 15th, 2006 at 1:07 am

  It’s amazing how much of our lives revolve around bodily functions once we have our lovely babies. I taught for almost nine years and never once uttered a sentence about poop or poopy corners.

• 38. Girl Love&hellip  |  August 26th, 2006 at 6:59 am

  Dave

  Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future

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