3 Wonders of a 3 Year Old

True to the wonders of a precarious 3 year old boy, I am constantly marveling at the rapidly changing obsessions of my son. I really think there is a difference between the inner wirings of boys and girls. One month before his 3rd birthday, most of our conversations or observations revolve around 3 things:

• Bugs,
• Boo Boos, and
  
• Poop.

Warning: There will be too much discussion so please read at your own risk and comfort of disgust level.

Bugs - There is not a bug that goes undetected in our outside our home. There is really no need for pest control treatments, my son will spot them all and won't stop until we either take them outside or stomp on them. Ants, spiders, roaches, you name it, they cannot live unnoticed. Ants are "bad, bad, bad;" bees are "it stung me," followed by a pinch, spiders make Liam get his fingers in climbing position and he starts singing, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," as to where roaches are, well, something worth investigating. When Liam finds a roach, alive or dead, they are usually with their legs up, still moving. He will run to get me and on our way to see it, he stops at the bathroom and retrieves toilet paper. Then we go and look at, discuss whether it's dead or alive and proceed to picking it up. Yuk is right!! I cringe, but I don't let him know it. Why kill my son's sense of wonder? I have to admit he is a little cruel with it. He will pick it up, then drop it, then pick it up again a few more times. Then he will take it and throw it in the toilet, flush it, and say, "bye, bye, see you later." The most disgusting thing occurred the other day: he walked up to me with open, sweaty hands and there, stuck was the evidence of the last few minutes - roach legs pasted onto his palms. Trying not to freak out, remembering how horrified my parents were with my love of snakes, I just took him to the bathroom and cleaned him off.

Boo Boos - All of a sudden last week Liam became obsessed with anything that will hurt, him or anyone else, by stating "it's a boo boo, it hurts" with the most pitiful look on his face. I think he may even try to hurt himself so he can show us, although he refuses to wear a bandaid or screams bloody murder if we spray anything on it. His knees and legs are more evidence of his boyish nature and I dread his third year checkup with all his bumps, bruises and scrapings.

Poop - Thanks be to poop for it got Liam potty trained very quickly. While he was in the process already of peeing in the toilet, not a potty, he refused to sit on the toilet out of fear. But once while he was standing up peeing in toilet he started holding his butt cheeks together, saying he had to poop. The minute I saw it coming, I immediately sat him on the toilet and when he looked, he got so excited. That was early one Saturday morning and he spent the whole day trying to poop. I told him he had no more in him but he persisted. In no time, potty training was a success. Yippy!! Now, the funny thing is that he makes us go in there with him to see it because he is so proud to inform us that, "Look mommy, it looks like snakes!!"

Now why can't we enjoy every small, insignificant thing in life? Wouldn't it be great if we could!!