AJ is perfecting the art of the potty dance. Hopping from one foot to the other, alternately flapping his arms and slapping his bottom, he looks like he�s attempting to replicate the mating dance of an obscure jungle bird. This is generally accompanied by wailing and howling and other unearthly sounds.

Imagine the above scene repeated non-stop at approximately 10 minute intervals and you have a pretty good idea of my day.

It�s hard not to feel sorry for the guy. He�s desperate to do the right thing, but he hasn�t quite figured out what that is yet.

We did manage to squeeze some more entertaining pursuits between trips to the bathroom. We spent most of the day at my mother-in-law�s with assorted family members. AJ�s uncle and I took AJ and his 11-year-old cousin to the local pool where she gamely tried to get AJ excited about the pool. Her dream was finally realized in true two-year-old fashion � the lifeguard blew a whistle and told everybody to get out for a 10 minute break. As soon as that whistle blew, AJ decided that the pool was where he wanted to be. He paced around. He tried to stick his toes in the water. He whined, he wheedled, he pleaded until finally the whistle blew again and he raced into the water once more.

The day was capped by one of my mother-in-law�s famous impromptu feasts. Today�s version included eggplant parmesan (made from scratch, of course), steak and peppers, salad, carrots, a big bowl of olives, ravioli, pizza, strawberries, three kinds of cake and ice cream. You should see what she throws together for holidays. And it is impossible to refuse anything, as she will simply keep asking you if you want some until either she wears you down completely or she simply commandeers your plate and starts piling things on it. She is the epitome of the adage food=love.

Given the fact that we always visit my mother-in-law with a full complement of luggage, surely enough to travel for weeks, we inevitably leave something behind on each visit. Today�s casualties were my wedding and engagement rings, which I�d given my husband to hold while I was at the pool, and AJ�s favorite book du jour. I can survive without the rings (although I�m really glad it was my husband who left them behind rather than myself, which might have seemed like a subconscious statement of some kind) but getting AJ through his bedtime routine without his favorite book was a challenge.

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