"Mommy, I'm pooping..."

I have the fortunate pleasure of sitting in a hotel room tonight in New Hampshire, watching TV, eating room service, reading e-mail and now, wasting time. I've travelled a lot in the past for my job, but have only travelled once since late 2004 until today. Believe me, I haven't missed it, and with all of their "customer-friendly" rules they have now (I literally threw away about $35 worth of hair products because there were too big to carry on), I can say - I haven't missed a thing.

One thing I wasn't quite prepared for was when I called home tonight. I expected Kyle to answer the phone. "Connor's asleep and Tyler's in the bathroom," he said. Connor is apparently going for a new baby record with the amount of sleep he's trying to NOT get during the day. Today he slept for a whopping 20 minutes between 6am and 5pm. And he's 8 months old. Seriously. I think I sleep more than that during those hours - but don't tell my boss.

Kyle was excited for me to talk to Tyler, because of course he had asked 100 times where I was. So I talked to Tyler:

"What are you doing buddy?", I asked.
"I went to daycare today," he answered.
"That's great buddy, what did you do?", I asked.
"Where are you Mommy?", he asked.
(I can hear my husband in the background telling him I'm in Massachusetts although I'm really in New Hampshire. Close - I guess, but hearing a 3 year old say "Massachusetts" is HILARIOUS!)
"I'm in New Hampshire", I answered.
"Neww Hamsher?", he asks.
"Yep!", I answer.
"Tell Mommy what you're doing." I hear my husband whisper.
"Mommy, I'm pooping."

Yep - I had a full conversation with my little boy while he was sitting on the toilet!

then the conversation continued...
"Tell Mommy you miss her."
"I miss you Mommy."
"Tell Mommy you love her."
"I love her." Tyler answers.

When your children are born, you understand that you've become a parent. You understand you have to take care of this child, feed it, bathe it, (insert everything else here) it. It never occurs to you that every minute of the day this child is learning from you - just sucking everything up like a sponge. Tyler can have a conversation on the phone now because of what we taught him. He's learned his sense of humor from us, and he's learning to love, from us.