The Greatest Birthday Gift of My Life

Appropriately Brown!

OK, so going to Michael Buble was a pretty awesome gift from my husband. It's always nice to get away for an evening to be entertained. However, as you are driving home, there's that tinge of sadness over the built-up event being over. When you get home, everything is still there right where you left it...waiting for you. I don't refer to the children, but to the unfinished dishes, piles of laundry and weed-filled flower beds. I guess I am the sort of person that tries to come up with a gift that keeps on giving...something that will last again and again. That is probably why I prefer to buy things for my house over traveling more often, even though I realize that memories are more important than things. Anyway, on my birthday, my 3 1/2 year-old son gave me something I have been wanting for at least a year. Poop--that's it! Not in the diaper, not in his underwear, not even smeared across the T.V. screen(yes he did that once)---but in the toilet! This has been the biggest thorn in my side for the past year. I have tried so hard time and again to make this happen and I was powerless. I offered every possible bribe...even one of those Power Wheels cars for kids. The day before my birthday I tried again as I had every day to bribe him to use the toilet. I told him I would take him to Cici's Pizza and that he could eat pizza, brownies, and cinnamon rolls and that I would give him money to play the video games. He lit up but began crying because he just didn't feel ready to do it. I blew it off because I have had to get used to doing that. On the morning of my birthday I was putting on my make-up and Fisher proceeded to sit on the toilet to poop. He did it and I actually got tears in my eyes. When he finished, we jumped up and down together. What a triumph. He said, "Now can I go to Cici's?"
It wasn't exactly my idea of what I wanted for my birthday lunch, but of course I had to deliver so I promised I would take him at lunch time. After all of my errands and chores, we went to a late lunch and he was starving. I had played it up all day to get him excited. When we finally arrived, with a worried tone he said, "Hey, this isn't Cici's!" I said, "Yes it is...look...right there it says 'Cicis'." He kept insisting that it wasn't Cici's, even as we walked through the doors and then it dawned on me. All along, he thought we were going to Chuck E. Cheese! I said, "Oh, did you mean 'Chuck E. Cheese'?" "Yeah." (in a very sad drawn out voice). I felt really bad. What a gyp for him. All of these months, all of these promises and in the end, he didn't even get to go to the lousy restaurant of his choice. Well, a mom knows how to fix this, so I gave him a couple of quarters and he bought some chicklets and other nasty candy and was as happy as he's ever been. Ever since then, he has defacated in the appropriate place and miraculously doesn't even wet the bed at night. Seriously, this all happened in one day....my 36th birthday. That beats Michael Buble any day because after Michael leaves the stage, forgets all about me and moves on to other adoring fans, I come home to a dang cute son that poops on the toilet. That was the best birthday gift ever!