markers and milestones

So, last night our boy,for the first time, willfully and purposefully, peed in his potty. A prouder mother you have never seen.

On the flip side my little gently baby is gone. He has been replaced with a pushing, hitting monster. I know this is a phase and it will pass, but I am fraught with anxiety over it. He has been very mean with his best friend, pinching and hitting him. He wants to share nothing. I am literally afraid to take him to the park. He was just getting to the point where I could watch him from 20 feet away and let him explore and work things out. He would climb up the stairs of the play structure and go down the slide and the repetitious movement seemed to comfort all involved. Now - back to hovering. Because there is ZERO WARNING before a whirling dervish of slaps and hysteria and spitting is upon you. I never had to worry about him getting aggressive before, and all of the aggression was usually centered on me, I can deal with that. E ruefully shoved down a 21 mo old boy (who was bigger that him) and the mother was appalled, she shuffled up little Carter and said in a huffy, stage whisper "well, we are not going to play here any more." I could have just eaten my own head. I was practically falling all over the mother to apologize and make E apologize. So don't think I was encouraging E and giggling from the sidelines. Major UGH!

Today was our swim and gym class at the JCC. E was a pill. They were "filling the pool." So normally my favorite part of the week, sinking into the 85 degree pool was not there, it was cold in the pool. E wasn't having it.He was SOOOOOOO good last week, so good that I was bragging him up and down town. Today, cried and carried on, we were in our own little world of disobedience. No singing, no "blast offs" no "humpty-dumptys", just "that way, that way" and pointing to the shallow end of the pool -the part that our class was not in, the cold end.

They were putting some kind of powder in the pool too. As a result, E got a little chemical burn on his face, my eyes are still stinging 6 hours later.
Cold and chemically, Huzzah!