Today's the first day of three days with the wife gone to NYC with her old UCLA roommates.

I had to use the bathroom, so I asked pooklet if he'd play in his crib. To my surprise and supreme pleasure, he immediately said, "um hm" in the affirmative, gathered the toys with which he was playing, and trotted off to his room.

We've been rewarding the pooklet with toy cars every time he says, "Pee!" or "Poo!" and actually has to go. He's allowed to pick a car out after each success, but the success part for the parent is lost on the child, and three times in the space of a minute did he claim "Pee!" only to discover a new rule from the daddy. "Once every hour, Pooklet." Still, it was the first time I've seen him take his underwear all the way off by himself!