A Champion!

Once RJ settled into sleep our first night, he did well, sleeping until after 7:00 the next morning.  But once he woke up he was restless, clearly needing to go potty.  However, I am trying to figure out how this whole potty thing works here.  Children don't use diapers, but wear split pants, so they start potty training very early.  RJ definitely is potty trained, but I don't know how to facilitate it, Chinese style.  I brought diapers, pull-ups and underpants.  The underpants will work fine, if I can figure out exactly how to help him.  He has pointed or taken my hand to the potty every time he has needed to use it, but pretty much once he steps foot inside the bathroom door, he squats and squirts.  That would make sense, if he were wearing split pants…but he isn't.  So, we went through two pairs of underpants, just trying to make it all the way to the potty.  Now I am taking them off in advance, and also trying to just go in regularly, so it isn't an emergency.  How fabulous it will be if I can stay the course and teach him that potty is not just making it to the hole in the bathroom floor, but actually getting to the potty…to have him already trained at 2 and a half would be terrific.  He hates wearing pull-ups, but he will put up with the underpants.  Perhaps we will have to call him Captain Underpants!

Anyway, so far that is the biggest adjustment we are trying to figure out together.  In every other way he seems to just have a 'go with the flow' attitude.  He is so pleasant.  Well, there might be one thing that he takes very seriously and I already see that you don't get in his way of…FOOD.  The boy is a champion eater.  I haven't found anything yet he isn't too fond of…except maybe an oreo cookie.  This afternoon he ate a huge bowl of noodles with dumplings and cabbage, then came back to the hotel, ate a package of peanut butter crackers (6 total), a box of raisins, a nectarine, an asian pear, a baggie full of cheerios and a chewy granola bar.  I don't want him to get sick, but he sure seems like he is able to handle it.  At two and a half he is already better with chopsticks than most people I know!