"Why is my kid is crying?"

In a hurry on a Monday morning, we herded our adorable children like wild cats into the back of our car.  And for reasons that remained beyond us both, our son began to wail.

What in the world is he crying about? 

If I had a dollar for every time I thought this about my kids, I’d be a wealthy man.

Crying is a form of communication that evokes so many emotions, both in the self and in others. Crying is a complex and controversial behavior with its own separate domain of critical research. But somehow, many caregivers learn to decode their children’s crying and react emphatically.

How we respond to crying is really important, especially when someone is not able to communicate verbally. This could apply to a child who does not have words yet or a verbally fluent adult who has a hard time “finding their words” when they are emotionally activated.

There’s no one “right way” to respond to crying, but here are a few tips that I’ve found helpful:

1. Listen (rather than trying to problem solve)
2. Observe (rather than act on the other person)
3. Assure (rather than trying to correct or calm) - “I’m here” or “We’ll hug at school”

So you might be asking yourself: What exactly did you do when your son was crying that day?

I’ll tell you:

1. We put him in his car seat (because we were late, of course)
2. I drove as calmly as I could to school (which thankfully was only less than a mile away)
3. We listened through the trill for his words to come to him (which they eventually did)

Why was he crying?

Because we turned off his “movie show” before it was finished. Curse you Daniel Tiger and your end of show skit. Next time, we’ll try to give our little man a warning that we need to turn off the show.

Ugga Mugga my friends. Happy Monday morning.

Be Prepared: The Potty Hits the Road

Summer seems to have finally arrived in Rochester, and for many of us, that means more time in the car traveling to activities or visiting family that lives out of town.

By the grace of God, our son recently potty trained. While in the heavens there was great exultation at this incredible development milestone, our thoughts turned to wise words from The Lion King: Be Prepared.

So…nigh on 2 years ago, our oldest achieved the same milestone as we prepared for a trip from Rochester to Myrtle Beach, SC. So a 30 month old and 6 month old sat like cherubs in the back of our Honda CRV as we disembarked for the beach.

I don’t think we made out of New York before our daughter exclaimed in mild panic:

The virtues of this potty can be summarized as such:

1. Sturdy and portable (with those all important side bars for stability when hunkering down)

2. Separate receptacle for catching waste (so you can pull over and “dump” it)

3. Arm & Hammer insert (to keep the odoriferous factor sanely controlled)

“I need potty!”

Thankfully, I married well and wisely. My wife suggested that we bring the portable potty.

I never realized I could get so close to the steering wheel as my wife helped maneuver our daughter behind my seat to drop trowel and properly relieve herself into said receptacle, which we had packed as a last second precaution for the road.

As fortune would have it, my daughter felt so moved to have a bowel whilst we were stuck in the throws of stand-still traffic outside of the fabulous District of Columbia. As our son was screaming to be fed by his mother, our oldest lost a pound or two in the loo. The loo located directly behind the driver's seat.

So…this is all by way of saying: Be prepared, listen to your wife, and pack a potty. It’s no joke.