Wednesday, June 14, 2006

My God, How Did it Get to Be Wednesday?

Geez, it's next week already.

So I've been busy not eating as much so I can fit into my clothes again. I'm one of the few women who lost weight while pregnant, so I wasn't too far away from my ideal weight right after having Ben, only to gain it back in the following year. Yippee for aging metabolisms.

I've also been busy getting ready for Father's Day. I've been thinking about what to do for G. that doesn't cost much (his practice is, again, way down), and I almost forgot about my own father. He lives in Arizona and has been hard-of-hearing for as long as I've been alive. It's hard to call when the kids are awake, because they're awake, and it's hard to call when they're asleep because I'd wake them up with all the yelling. But I check in as often as possible, and I think I'll actually get his present out to him in time. I made him some scrapbook pages for the big father's day album my sisters and I gave him two years ago.

We are still at war with the potty, but I believe we've reached a turning point (hah - where have you heard that lately?). I've tried really hard to keep it mellow and not react to A's 5th accident of the day. I know he has control. We can tell by the little smile on his face when he tells us he's wet. So he changes himself and we move on. But last night I almost lost it. I'd just cleaned out his pooped-in underwear (for some reason that grosses me out so much more than a dirty diaper) about an hour earlier when he stacked our two big couch pillows on top of each other and was perched on top of both, reading his train magazine. I told him I was going to put Ben to bed, then I'd be back to read his magazine with him.

So I returned and suggested he sit on the potty while we read the magazine. He hopped off the pillows, and I immediately saw a huge wet spot on his gray knit shorts. I said, "Oh, it looks like you've already peed," turned back to the pillows and damned if he didn't pee right through the top one all the way into the bottom one. He grinned a little and I almost lost it.

But I didn't. I took a deep breath and said, "Oh, man. Now we have to take the pillows to the laundromat tomorrow morning instead of playing outside." I do feel a little bit bad pushing him, because from his point of view staying in diapers makes complete sense. Why should he stop playing to run inside and pee in the potty when if he has a diaper on, he can just keep going until it's convenient for him to change? In his world, everyone would wear diapers. It kind of makes sense, except for the odor problem. We haven't pushed it until now, which is why we have an almost 4-year-old still in diapers. (Well, not really - let's say an almost 4-year-old in many pairs of underpants a day).

First thing this morning, he tells me, "We have to wash the pillows!" He was very interested in the whole laundromat experience, which I was kind of hoping would be more boring than interesting. I included him in every step, from going around the house collecting quarters for the machines, to explaining each cycle the giant machine went through. I do think it made an impression.

Also, today we tried something new. He goes to the potty every hour and sits there for two minutes. No accidents today, and he even pooped in the potty chair between our hourly visits. He actually said, "I have to go potty!" and went and sat on his chair. Naturally he did this right before I went to work and while G. was still dozing on the sofa so guess who got to clean it up? G. is a lucky, lucky man.

A. told me this afternoon that he didn't want me to go to work.

"I know, babe, and I'd rather stay here with you, too. But sometimes we have to do things we'd rather not do."

He was quiet, then gave a huge sigh. "I really don't want to use the potty."

"I know, sweetheart. Sometimes it's hard to grow up."

Big sigh. "Yeah."

3 comments:

Lunasea said...

Why did I think you guys had jumped that hurdle last year? Does he still wear diapers and do people give you weird looks like they do us? His school doesn't care?

Boobless Brigade Master said...

Okay, don't know if I've already said this, so if I did, I apologize.
1) Get a big penny bank.
Whenever he successfully goes on the potty...give him some change to put in the penny bank. In your case, it's perfect...tell him instead of spending money at the laundromat...he'll get the money instead!
When he's successfully potty-trained, he gets all the money to buy whatever he wants to buy. Of course, Daisy didn't only get change. Grandma's and Grandpa's donated paper money as well whenever she went on the potty at their house.
2) Get some of those old-fashioned rubber pants to put on top of the underware. It helps contain the mess to him and keeps it from other couch-like-surfaces.
Not to mention...it's a pretty gross feeling to have it 'all' right there at your bottom...that helps inspire them to use the potty instead of "sitting in the yucky" as Daisy used to say.

3) is just outright funny.
Whenever we (my brother and I) told my parents we had to go potty, they'd tell us to go in and sit on the potty. Soon, my Mom would come to check on us and she'd ask if we had to pee or poop. When our answer was poop, she whisper for us to call our Dad when we were done.
Apparently my father walked around for two months saying, "What to hell? It seems like every time they poop, they call me to help them but not you!"
In that two months alone, she paid him back for every practical joke he'd ever played on her.

Sarah said...

I've told you this story before. My 2 1/2 year old son was so tidy and coordinated that it seemed as though potty training would be a snap. It wasn't. Finally I asked him "Do you want to use the potty?" He immediately answered "No, because if I use the potty I won't be a baby anymore."

He finally potty trained, reluctantly, at 4 (His preschool teachers had a fit when they discovered him wearing training pants. That did the trick.).

 
template by suckmylolly.com