Side effects may include--

So we got Rascal on the yaykit train to help him learn to put his peebeep and 'tinky in the potty. Now we have to train him to put his clothes back on.

"No itchies!", which is the Rascal-ism for gitchies.

He has Thomas the Tank Engine and Finding Nemo itchies. Apparantly they're soooo last year. He has a birthday coming up, and Gamma has as much as promised him some Lightning McQueen itchies. Who knows, maybe that'll do the trick.

He has also decided not to wear anything for bedtime, and so far we're accident-free! However, this has opened up the door to a whole new getting-out-of-bed opportunity. It used to be he'd ask for milk or a certain blanket or toy, but we had worked around that after several months of effort. It came to the point where he realized no amount of asking was going to get my attention. My policy (such as it is) was to respond to the first 2 or 3 requests and then the store was closed for the night.

Now, all he need say is that he has peebeep or 'tinkies and I'm flying up the stairs to attend to the little driblets he rations out over the 2 or so hours bedtime takes to complete. A few times I have tried to hard-line it with him and not allow him to get up, but then he makes a mess and teaches me a lesson.

Sometimes I wonder who is being potty-trained here.

You are what you eat

Rascal is a snacker. We mamas are always on the lookout for "healthy" snack options, and supposedly Goldfish crackers are a safe bet.

Safe for whom?

He was eating these and some raisins. I was playing with Baby on the floor. Tweenie was off somewhere probably counting her Barbies.

It was just like in a cartoon - the part where green smoke drifts past your nose and suddenly an odor engulfed the room. We're talking a brain-numbing nostril-hair-singeing eye-watering anaphylactic-shock-inducing stench.

I held my breath as I approached him. He looked up innocently, not yet fully aware of the carnage he had wreaked. I picked him up and held him at arm's length as I carried him to the change table.

Ground Zero was a surprising sight. For all the smell there were only a few rabbity turds in his diaper, but what was really super awesome was that they were neon green. I tell you in all my years of changing diapers I have never seen anything so weird. I remembered then when he had all those Freezie-pops last summer that his poo was strangely colored too.

I cleaned him up as fast as I could and then double-bagged the diaper before putting it in the trash. I opened the window to let the room air out.

When I returned to the living room and Baby, I realized that the stink was still quite strong. I opened a few more windows, but it didn't seem to help much.

It was then I noticed that Baby had swiped some of Rascal's fishies.