Sullivan is on day THREE of wearing big boy underpants. The other day Damon carefully explained to Sullivan his choices for underwear. He told Sullivan he could wear these diapers that babies wear or these underpants that big boys wear (pointing to a set of fun Disney character underwear). I was not in the room for this exchange but Damon said Sullivan appeared to understand the comparison for the first time and quickly pointed to the cotton underoos and put them on. He has literally been clean and dry ever since this exchange. The pants (which were a pair of Captain Hook underpants) and the talk with daddy seemed to be just the motivation that he needed to make this big step. Now he comes and tells us when he has to go to the bathroom and then puts his pants on right afterwards. We even had our first outing today to the store sans diaper and with only underpants. We went to Costco and had a soda and pizza and then he went to the big boy bathoom with daddy making the trip a big success. He was so proud of himself that when leaving he stopped and told the check out employee that “he had a soda and pizza and went to the big boy potty at Costco”.

Granddaddy Jerry got Sullivan a Captain Hook doll for Christmas but Sullivan found it last week and just had to open it early. He was staying with Grandmommy and Granddaddy and was told he had to wait until Mommy and Daddy came the next day to open it which apparently caused much frustration and emotion. By the time we got there he was about ready to burst with anticipation of opening of this doll.
Now the doll has become THE toy of the house with his own special carry case and has provides us with just the right threat to encourage good behavior. Sullivan has been very careful with him even as Hook gets into scrapes with Smee and Peter Pan.

Tonight was a very special night because for the first time Sullivan got to be a participant during one of the Biscuit Brothers songs at a live show. I mean this child has had a unique experience with this show like no other child. He has been a part of the shows before he entered this world, listening to the music, hearing his mother sing and feeling the rhythm of the dances while inside my belly. He has been on the television show since he was days old and yet up until tonight has been too little to actually engage in the back and forth dialogue with the characters during our live shows. I mean he has danced during the live shows and clapped and bounced to the music but has never been ready to participate in our audience particiaption portion. Now we have reenacted the Old MacDonald audience particiaption scene where Dusty asks a child their name and what animal might we find on old Mac’s farm for over a year now but tonight he was finally ready to volunteer during a show for this bit. We had practiced in the car ride over to the show and he decided he wanted to choose a pig to be on the farm when asked and had practiced it soo many times that when Dusty asked him what his name was he said Pig.

Now what surprised me so much about this whole exchange was how giddy I felt. For a moment I was not Buttermilk Biscuit, an actor who has performed this routine what seems like a thousand times over 5 years, but a mom who was experiencing it for the first time and was so thoroughly excited that her son had been called out by one of the Biscuit Brother characters that she almost forgot what she was doing onstage. I mean I see this reaction by dozens of parents at every show. A proud parent excited that their child was called out to do something with the cast nearly starstruck themselves at the scene playing out, taking pictures and clapping and cheering….and that was ME. Like I didn’t see Buford and Dusty ever day and wasn’t a part of the show but for the first time a part of the audience. It was truly a special sweet moment for both Damon and I and something I know will help us continue to connect with the parents and families who love this program as much as we do.