Warning: This Post Is About Pee

Now that I have your attention....  Okay, so Ben is doing very well overall on the toileting front.  By far the most welcome recent development has been Peeing Standing Up, with the prerequisite skill of Good Aim.  It's pretty cool -- we no longer need to cart around the insert, he doesn't have to come into full body contact with nasty public toilets, and he can take care of the entire operation more or less by himself from start to finish.  Which is not to say that he always does.  If he's trying to push our buttons or slow us down when we're in a hurry, he'll suddenly become completely helpless.  But if we basically ignore him, he'll get back to business on his own.

Why am I telling you this?  Be patient.  I have to get a little graphic first, before I can make my point.  So, you probably know what I'm talking about when I refer to, shall we say, froth.  Ben is quite intrigued by this.  He came up with a little song about it.  It goes like this:  "Bubbles in the old, not in the new."  I guess it's more of a chant.  It stems from his observation that the froth-laden fluid in question is replaced by comparatively froth-free water during the flushing process.  Yeah, I know.  Ewwwwwww.

And you know how he's gotten into the Rolling Stones lately?  He has decided that he is a member of a band called the Rolling Rock, which may come as a shock to his former band members in The Milk (which I just realized I never blogged about -- I've been remiss).  So tonight, as he was lying back enjoying his bath, he announced that the Rolling Rock had a new song, which he proceeded to perform for us:  "Oh you can't always have bubbles in the new.  Yeah you can't always have bubbles in the new.  No you can't always have bubbles in the new.  But if you try sometimes you just might find, you have bubbles in the old!"

If you've managed to keep reading this far, I'll reward you with the following news item, which I guarantee is 100% pee-free:  Ben has suddenly gotten heavily into painting.  I love this.  It's been going on for a couple of weeks now.  He spends a long time on each painting, which is always an elaborate multimedia construction, typically incorporating poster paint, finger paint, glue, watercolor, and a dinosaur stamp he got as a birthday party favor.  And he sings the entire time.  This afternoon he announced, "Let's take our snack up to the attic [where the art studio is] and ... PAINT!!!"  Really, he was just about bursting with excitement.  Even better, now he wants me to paint with him -- i.e. at my own easel, next to his.  You have no idea how happy this makes me.