more potty training, cuz that's what we do around here. And Christmas!

fyi, all posts for the foreseeable future will be about potty training. Because it is SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME.

Yesterday I was  0 for 3.  I hovered and hovered and when I changed the Princess's diaper he took advantage of the 30 seconds I wasn't watching him to pee in his pants.

After dinner I watched carefully for signs of impending poop, but he read Hop on Pop (ha, I totally typed Hop on Poop there) to himself.  No grunting, no funny faces.  And then I find he stealthily pooped in his pants while reading to himself.

And then he was a lunatic, running around without pants on, screaming "I'm a pirate! I find pirate treasure!" and stops dead in his tracks and pees on the carpet.  Not the treasure I was expecting.

All "do you have to pee-pee?" questions are met with NO.  So I'm thinking maybe his word can't be trusted.

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I'm looking for  dessert recipes for Thanksgiving.  I told my mother in law I would make a pumpkin bread pudding and a flourless chocolate torte.  I have the pumpkin bread pudding recipe but all recipes for flourless chocolate tortes appear to be beyond my limited baking capabilities.  Brownies from a box, anyone?

If anyone has a chocolatey something recipe that does not involve lots of dairy or nuts I'm all ears.
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I went Christmas shopping today.  Apparently so did everyone else.  Target was packed.

I like shopping, ordinarily.  But I like shopping on Tuesday mornings at 9 am.  Shopping with hordes of other people, all of them standing in front of me in the Starbucks line, the store looking like its been picked over by a pack of rabid wolves, makes me sweaty and sort of claustrophobic.  

I'm not the kind of person who will abandon a fully loaded cart if there are more than two people in front of me in line, muttering imprecations about how inconsiderate the other people are to be out shopping when I am.  But I don't particularly enjoy the manic rush of Christmas shopping.  I find I do more and more shopping online.  Amazon carries just about everything you could ever want.

I am looking for some good ideas for Christmas for kids.  My kids are into anything dinosaurs, Handy Manny, more dinosaurs, and dinosaurs.  Also, dinosaurs.  And cranes and winches.  If you find a dinosaur who is building something with a crane and a winch, that would be perfect.

I would like a potty-trained 3 year old for Christmas. (Not *your* potty-trained three year old, I have enough three year olds around here. But if you want to come over and convince Peter to start using the potty on a regular basis, I'm all for it.)

What do you want for Christmas?