Pushover

As if the holidays weren't stressful enough, this year marked the first of what is sure to be many anxiety-riddled parent/teacher conferences. Does Finn know how to share? Will Finn end up in jail by his second birthday? Is Finn more likely to give Grace a hug or a punch in the nose? Does Finn understand that No means No?¹

So many questions - with most of the anxiety focused on whether our little whiny, picky-eating, angel was actually a whiny, picky-eating terror when we drop him off in the morning. Turns out we needn't have worried. If anything, Finn's problem is apparently the same as his Daddy's: he's a pushover.

If someone were to take something from him, he'll either cry to the teachers or will move on; he avoids confronting the offender. That sounds about right. He doesn't even get upset when Grace wakes him up early by crawling into his cot during nap time. Again, just like his Daddy, if you know what I'm talkin' about.²

But the most astonishing part of the daycare conference was when we were informed that Finn has decided that he's ready to start using the potty and that he had already successfully used it to rounds of applause from his fellow students.

This was astonishing for two reasons:

1. We had no idea that he was that ready for potty-training, but had actually just that weekend purchased the starter potty. He has since used it twice, for both #1 & #2.
2. Apparently use of the potty is a spectator sport at daycare.

If the only complaint is that Finn needs to be more assertive and begin solving his own problems, I think I can handle that. Mommy and I have already put in motion a rigorous program intended to reduce whining and enforce more self-sufficiency. Then, once we've accomplished this for ourselves, we will roll it out to Finn.

I was going to include a picture of Finn on the potty for illustrative purposes, but I didn't want Finn's first act of assertion be his punching me in the nose for posting that. Instead I chose another daycare picture, where apparently they also put bras on your childrens' heads while out on a walk.

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¹ Unless of course it's spoken by Daddy, when it just means: keep whining and you'll get exactly what you want.
² Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Hey now!