P is for Potty

Before Oliver was born it had been my intention to pursue infant potty training with him. It requires a great deal of time, attention, and patience to apply this technique successfully but I thought I might as well give it a try -- I was going to be at home with the babe anyway, right? As we all know now, this was certainly not the case and my time, attention, and patience were being spent on issues of greater importance.

However, I did not give up on the idea of talking with Oliver about his potty and why it was there and what was done with it. We have been talking about it more and more recently particularly because Oliver has taken a fancy to his potty and loves practicing sitting on it. Another recent shift in his awareness is when I have him on the changing table and his diaper is off he will say "pee pee" right before or while he pees.

Well, tonight after his bath he would absolutely not let me put on his diaper or his pjs. We were playing on the bed so I was uncomfortable with the idea of him peeing on it, but we were having such a good time. Next thing I know, Oliver looks at me and says "pee pee". I quickly scoop him up and ask him if he has to go pee pee and would like to sit on his potty as I make a beeline straight for it. I plunk him down on his potty and next thing I know he is peeing in it!! Woo-hoo! I was thrilled, Oliver was thrilled, George was thrilled.

I've been wondering how all of this was going to play out. I know I have a long road ahead of me with potty training but it is exciting that we are on our way.

Mum shows off her Vole photos

Could they be more adorable?

Put another song on the jukebox, baby

A Joan Jett fan with a 50's jukebox

Oliver on the farm

Matthias and O hanging on to the radio flyer...weeeeeee

The Vole @ The Voodoo Doughnut, Portland

The magic is in the hole. Quite. But The Vole feels the ATM is a good second bet

All better!

Fever passed. Then 36 hrs of on again off again projectile vomiting. But now the end of the suffering seems near and The Vole is perking up. Yay!

Elton Vole

Oliver searches for the lost chord

All Quiet on The Western Front

Our fabulous team at UCSF alerted Portland Childrens Hospital who rolled out the red carpet for The Vole. Good news was his white cells were strong (they'd been a bit iffy before his surgery) so they filled him with antibiotics and sent him home.

The fever persists - he's at 101 this morning, but he is in pretty good spirits. Drank only water during the night - not like him at all. We await the blood cultures - but for now all is well enough.

You give me fever

We're in Portland and its dark wet and cold. But not The Vole. To compensate for the gloom he's up to 101.7 and shining like a beacon. So we phone it in and wait. Who knows maybe we'll be able to do a comparison of hospital food here vs San Francisco. More later.

Out From Under The Knife

Thanks to everyone who has called and emailed and checked in on The Vole. He is doing remarkably well.

Oliver was admitted into the hospital on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for his surgery. It was important to check his blood counts the day before to prevent any unexpected and unwanted surprises during the operation. All was well and they proceeded the next morning at 8:30 to remove this Broviac catheter and replace it with a port. He came through with flying colors and they felt confident to discharge us that afternoon. So we are home. Yay!

That's it for now. Thanks again for all the well wishes.