Ladies and Gentlemen!

He did it!  He pooped on the potty!!  Oh, how we have been waiting for this!  Now we can get down to the business of REAL potty training.  I mean, having a pee pee accident is not fun and all, but one cannot profess to really be into potty training unless and until one has successfully pooped on the pot!  *

It all happened like this: 

We got home and nearly immediately Mozart announced his 5 o'clock poop, "Mama, I pooping!"

"Oh, wonderful darling.  How about going on the potty?" I say.

"No, I good."

*sigh*  

We go upstairs to get cleaned up and I put in the frequently watched Potty Power video for our viewing pleasure.  He watches, he answers the overly cheerful lady's questions, he sings along, and then we go about our evening of admiring the equipment for sale in a recent volume of TractorHouse Northeast**, running amok with packing material while the moms make dinner, eating dinner, and playing with tractors.

Then, an unexpected announcement, "Mommy, I gonna poop 'gain."

To which Mommy replies, "Hey, do you want to go on the potty?!?"

"No."

And both moms exclaim, "Ewe!" and "Grossness!" and "We were hoping you'd use the big boy potty." and "Cuz big boys use the potty!"  

He did say vehemently that, "I am a big boy!", but declined just then to go upstairs to do the deed.

Shortly thereafter, he did go upstairs to get ready for bed with Mommy.  I go about feeding the cats and am readying myself to take a walk when I get paged from upstairs: 

"Mama!"

"Yes, darling?"

"I did it!"

"Oh?  What did you do?" I ask looking up the stairs to see a completely naked boy dancing with his arms outstretched.

"I POOPED!! I did! On the potteeeeee!"

"You did!?! Really?!?"

"I diiiiiiiiid! Come see!"

I oohed and awed.  I exclaimed at the stink, and waved my hands about acting as if I were to faint from it.  We had a grand time.  As I made my way back downstairs, I overheard him repeating, "I got Potty Power!" over and over.  Apparently Grammie and Papa were called to share the excitement.  

We are very proud of our boy indeed.

*Sorry, folks, you knew this was a blog about family life. And you knew that we have a toddler.  And with toddlers comes potty training and these kinds of fantastic milestones.  I do want to point out that I did not take a picture of said poop to share with you.  You have, at least, been spared that.

** This brilliant publication, while somewhat boring for me to read, is endlessly fascinating to Mozart:

 

What a day.

This morning at work I had someone yell at me for 35 minutes because I tried to help them.  Later I held a woman's hand for an hour while she battled against the voices in her head that were telling her to kill herself.  While I deal with unhappy family members and psychotic patients on a regular basis, today was a special kind of challenge.

I still feel somewhat on edge about the whole thing, but when I finally got to sit down and relax, I was heartened that I see so much in the way of visual support throughout my Facebook feed. 

For those who don't know yet, this symbol represents marriage equality, and the reason it's such a big deal right now is that the Supreme Court is deciding whether families like mine will be legitimate in the eyes of the California (by repealing Prop 8) and the Federal Government (by repealing DOMA).  These two historic marriage equality cases are being heard today and tomorrow, and though they will not actually reach a ruling until summer, but this is big. 

While the Wife and I are legally married where we live, we are not a legitimate family in the eyes of the Federal Government.  We think twice about going on vacation and have had to hire a lawyer to ensure that we have visitation rights in the hospital for each other or Mozart. We also have drawn up papers to ensure that the Wife will get custody of Mozart should I die.  We have a supportive family, and I wouldn't foresee any problems in this area, but better safe than sorry.  There are some areas, though, that we cannot fix by going to a lawyer. The organization I work for does not acknowledge my family, and while I can get benefits for Mozart, I cannot do so for my wife. We could not benefit from veterans benefits that I should have been able to use that would have helped us tremendously in buying and refinancing our house.  If either of us died before the other, the survivor could not collect Social Security that any heterosexelly-married widow would receive. 

I could go on and on and on about the 1138 federal marriage rights that the Wife and I don't have in the eyes of our government even thought we are legally married in our state.  Here is a link to a list of just 35 of those rights.  It's something to ponder if you haven't already. 

I can breathe!

Both figuratively and literally  :)

I generally tend to get sick under three scenarios.  1) I am simply overtired and haven't been taking care of myself, 2) I have been dealt an emotional blow, or 3) when something stressful, even happy-stressful, is taking a lot of energy over a long period of time and suddenly it is over.

The first only makes sense.  If I don't get enough sleep, don't eat well, and generally don't take care of myself, what do I really expect...  The second, well, all I can say is that with every break-up that I've had and every child that left to an not-so-great situation, I got sick.  When things are out of control and it's breaking my heart, my immune system takes a blow.  It's true, often, I am up worrying or the like, and not sleeping as I should in these situations, sometimes not eating as I should, so I suppose that makes sense too - though it has happened even when I've kept my routine.  And the third, well, that's less explainable.  I feel like there is so much tension being build up and I am running on adrenaline until the big event happens - that when the even finally happens, my body lets down its defenses and lets in the germies.

And that is what happened on Wednesday.  I am elated by the election results.  I mean, I really did feel like I'd been holding my breath for the last several months, and finally, some time after the networks called it, I finally felt like I could breathe again.  When they first called it, I was unconvinced - in fact, I wished I'd been able to just go to sleep without watching any of the results come it - flashbacks to 2000 anyone...  but by 12:30 in the morning, I began to believe.  Began to relax.  And began to rejoice.  In my dreams, for I really was utterly exhausted.

While I was sleeping, the Wife remained awake and monitoring the remaining results roll in, and as she posted in the wee hours of Wednesday:

Reelected the 1st President ever who publicly supports marriage equality.
Passed marriage equality in ME in the first time by ballot initiative.
Approved marriage equality law in MD.
Approved marriage equality law in WA.
Defeated an anti-gay constitutional amendment for the 1st time in MN.
Elected the 1st openly LGBT US Senator.
Now, that's how to do an election! :D

And while I was overjoyed on waking, I couldn't really express it as I felt rather like I'd been hit by a semi. I dragged myself up and went to work nonetheless, though I admit I got little accomplished.  By the afternoon the mild headache had worsened, the stuffiness had turned into a full clogging, and I was regularly sneezing.  By evening I was a full-on faucet-face. This is not a pretty thing, people, I'll spare the details, but let's just say that nothing within my vicinity was free of germs.  I was in bed by 8:30, dosed up with Sudafed and a myriad of various herbs, tinctures and teas.  I woke feeling somewhat better, but by the time I got Mozart down to breakfast I was fairly miserable again.  I realized this when I looked up from my coffee and saw him mimicking me, head resting on hand, and groaning.  While that was way too cute, it made me understand just how bad it was.  And really, it would have been completely irresponsible to go to work and expose coworkers and clients alike to all of the germs going on.

So now here I am, wrapped up in a blanket, feeling much better than yesterday, but still trying to take it easy.  I'm looking around at the various messes that never seem to stop piling up and thinking I should do the dishes, sort through this pile or that, or clean out the fridge, and maybe I will, but for now I will finish this off and drink my tea with the knowledge that the tides are finally turning and there is hope that in the future we will be considered a bona fide family with the same rights and benefits that other families already have.