A tale of 2 poops

1. My little man - I guess I really can't call him a baby anymore - pooped all by himself in his little potty tonight. He didn't even call me in until he'd tried to put it into the toilet all by himself, which was ok by me even though he made a tremendous mess. That is one of the best faces a mother can ever experience, watching your little baby so excited and proud of himself that he went all by himself and was successful. It is really priceless and I'm so glad that he waited 2 whole days to let me have the joy - and the fun of cleaning him and the potty and the toilet and the floor all up at 9:25 at night when I have 3 hours of homework ahead of me and I wished the kids were asleep at 7:30. It's a constant battle to want to see them and spend time with them and experience their little lives and know I have homework looming over me. I only have 33 more days of this first year left. I'm just taking one week at a time and trying not to let anyone die or be emotionally damaged in the process. Poor Lias has probably been ready to potty train for 2 months but I haven't found the stretch of time to help him. I don't think we can go backwards from here so here we go! Ready or not!

2. Two weeks ago we started clinicals at school which means I'm actually in a "hospital" setting now. Actually, it's just a nursing home but at least it's with real patients. On my very first day, my patient - a 94 year old dancing lady who doesn't walk or even stand very well - was having some incontinence issues. To make a long story short, on the way to getting her to the bathroom she ended up sitting on my lap instead of falling on the floor and breaking her hip. Lets just say I was sandwiched between a dirty bed and a dirty bum. Poor lady but she didn't fall and for that I'm still glad. Best part of all was we got to go to a seminar after our time at the nursing home and I didn't have a change of clothes. It felt like I was back on the farm, covered in crap after a hard days work. My classmates were pretty disgusted but it really didn't bother me. Needless to say, I did order a second pair of scrubs that afternoon.

Even Super Heros get Sleepy

Nathan and the Gospital

Every night we all gather on Nathan's bed to read scriptures and say family prayers. Nathan used to be our least compliant one - blame it on his constant need to move and fidget and roll on someone, etc - but lately we've turned a whole new corner with this kid. No longer does he test our patience with sitting still but instead with his incessant request to read more after we've exhausted our time. He is all about reading and soaking it up and trying to understand anything we tell him. He answers even the most abstract questions that John throws out to him and 99% of the time he's right, even if he can't quite say the words. It's very humbling and slightly amusing to hear a 4 1/2 year old trying to explain the Atonement, resurrection and the meaning of righteousness.

Last week we accompanied John down to Duke to sit in the hotel with he went to class and eat his fancy foods and try out the local kids museums. I gave the kids the task of packing their own bags of entertainment for the trip. It wasn't until we got to Duke that I noticed the two - and only - items Nathan had packed to entertain him: His Spiderman costume and.. his Book of Mormon. We attended a ward down in Durham where the vast majority of the testimonies were from kids and after watching the 5th one go up, Nathan turned to John and said he wanted to go up also. So up he went and fearlessly and loudly declared his love for the "Gospital" to all the congregation. Such an amazing spirit for such an intense little body.