"Proud, as any Dad could be, Proud...thats what you make me"

I did something rather silly a week ago and I'm still feeling pretty guilty for it. Opeie has a lot of allergies/intolerance's to different foods and at times it can be frustrating finding him things to eat and keeping his diet interesting and full of variety. Every now and again we try him with a little bit of these things to see if he has grown out of it. Seth grew out of his dairy intolerance so we were hoping Opeie would too. Eggs really don't agree with him and we have tried to give him some over the last year to find out if its got any better but he's never been interested. Last week though while I was eating my lunch he came over to me, picked up some egg and munched it down. I didn't stop him as I though I'd see if his reaction had calmed down. Big mistake!

There was an afternoon and evening of screaming, tears and a nappy that I have never seen so acidic causing him very angry looking blisters. It almost looked like his skin had been burnt. Poor little thing was in agony and I felt awful. As bad as it all sounds, in some ways it was a blessing In disguise. Because of the blisters and general discomfort Opeie was unable to wear a nappy so that night we put him down in our bed commando despite how nervous we were about it. Opeie managed to stay dry so that morning we began 'operation intense potty training'. Me and Mrs M talked about it and decided it would be 2-3 weeks in the house for me and Mr Blister Botty and no Venturing to far from home, we want to get him in to a good routine. We're now on day 7 and he's been dry every morning and he's only had 2 accidents during the day but I think they were both my fault for not picking up the signs. I do think his new pants from Nanny and grandad are definitely helping the situation.

The past two days Opeie has told me that he needs the toilet and has taken himself to take care of business, I'm so proud of him. I really wasn't looking forward to potty training but so far it has gone really well. On the times that he doesn't tell me that he needs to go we have fallen in to a routine to make him go. Spider-Man has to try first then Opeie, then spider-man, then Opeie, then Spider-Man and then Opeie finally goes on the third attempt (he's adorable).

As there are lots of toys in the house that the boys don't know about we have pulled together a big box of super hero figures, Lego kits (which I had collected free from the sun) and other fun bits for Opeie to choose from once he has had a successful toilet trip. Once business is taken care of we have to stand by the toilet and say bye bye to give the fruits of his bodily functions a proper send off. Opeie's new found skill has also sparked some comical comments from him. Yesterday he led me to the potty and explained to me that he had in fact done a 'chocolate pooh' and the day before that he walked in to the room bottomless, smiling and clenching his Brobee teddy between his legs before simulating what he described as a 'Brobee pooh', delightful.

All in all its been a pleasant first week of potty training. If we need to pop out the potty comes with us along with clean pants and clothes but thankfully we've not needed them yet. I'm so proud of him but am also a little emotional about him not being in nappies now, he's growing up so quickly and it's amazing how much more grown up he looks in his big boy pants. But like everything that comes with parenting we are embracing it fully and I am smitten every day with the boy he is becoming.