Progress is (mostly) good

After one truncated attempt at it several months ago, my son seems to be taking potty training seriously in recent weeks. While taking care of No. 2 still seems to be a long way off (he prefers hiding behind the couch and using his diaper) things are progressing well on the tinkle-tinkle front.

This even extends to the middle of the night, which is awesome. Most nights at some point between 12:30 and 3:30 a.m., we'll hear him cry out. At that point, you haul your own tail out of bed, meet him somewhere in the living room and turn him around, back to the bathroom.

The act of pottying is the easy part. After he's flushed, washed his hands and donned a fresh diaper comes the real adventure. At that point, you have a 21-month-old who feels he's more or less fully rested. In front of him, he sees Mommy or Daddy, a playmate in his eyes.

No matter how much you tell him it's time to go night-night again, he won't listen at that point. The best you can hope for is getting him back into bed only if you lie down on the floor next to it.

If your hips and back can't take that, Option B is taking to the couch for some late night sports highlights and a child who will (hopefully) only hold out for 10 or 15 minutes.

This morning went something like this.

3 a.m. -- Child wakes up, we cross paths in the living room.

3:03 -- Child does his business.

3:06 -- Child doesn't want to wash his hands. Dad doesn't care to fight about it.

3:10 -- Turn on the overnight Sportscenter and lie down on the couch.

3:20-ish -- Child and Dad fall asleep.

5:15 -- Dad wakes up, still on the couch. Takes child into his room.

5:20 -- Child shows up at Dad's bedside. Dad, again, doesn't have energy fight. Child occupies middle of queen bed.

6ish -- Mom loses patience with Dad and Child. (Can you blame her?) Gets up to shower for the day.

At this point, there was no going back. Miles was up. He eventually had three bites of a Pop Tart while Nicole ate her breakfast. Sleep would not return until 7:30.

Fortunately, I'm working the evening for a few days, so we were able to nap together until about 9, at which time we made the trip to the north end of the county for him to spend the day with Great Gram.

Let's hope I don't fall asleep at work tonight.