Pee Spot

Max has been potty training. We ripped off his diapers unceremoniously and though for the first week he held it in a lot, now he is having almost daily and sometimes many-times-daily accidents. Some of these are very frustrating, such as when he peed in the subway station at Coney Island, and some are very messy, such as when he pooped in the train into his last remaining underpants on the way home from Coney Island––by the time I walked in the door, the poop was primarily still in his underpants, but I had a fat brown smear on my right arm.

Yesterday Max was exhausted at the end of the day. We had breakfast with Theresa, Jacob, Ryan and Kelsey who we'd been partying with since Sunday. We waved goodbye to them, then went to his camp. After a quick lunch break after camp, we went out in the extreme heat to take Eliza up to be weighed at Dr. Curitores (12 lobs 14 oz now, a 1 lb 5 oz gain in a month!) and then we went home via shoe shopping on 7th Ave. Max stepped off the skateboard in front of our building, sat down on the steps, closed his eyes, and began to fall asleep in a sitting position. I carried him upstairs, gave him juice, turned on Sesame Street, and avoided a nap. He peed when I paused the show 5 minutes in, and I thought all was good.

He must have been starving because he had the kind of meltdown when SS was over that ended abruptly as soon as I picked him up in my arms. He kind of melted into me, then ate 5 fishsticks in 10 seconds. After, he was all sunshine and happiness. I had my back to him for a few minutes fixing the french fries, and when I turned he was just climbing back into his chair. It took me a few moments to notice the huge puddle next to him. Why is it always such a surprise when it's pee? Why do I try so hard to think of other things that might be responsible? (Like what, I wonder - a spitting houseplan? Runaway fish?)

"Did you climb out of your chair," I asked, "just to pee next to the table?"
"Yes," said Max.
"So that's pee?"
"Yes."
"Why did you pee there on the floor?"
"I was walking and walking and looking for a spot to pee, and then I got off my chair and I was on the floor and I said, 'This is a good spot.' And then I peed!"

It was hard to feel anything but pride, don't ask me why.