So our new plan is to make N The Boss of his pee pee and poopies. As long as he doesn't have to go number 2, it works great. But every other day it's....not so great.
How long do I give this method? And if I quit, what then?
We are supposed to act like we don't care, too, which is pretty difficult. And even rewards of his choosing are not incentive enough- even special outings.
He's missing a special outing with Daddy, M, and Aunt L right now because he did it again. We are trying to get across that kids who mess their pants can't do fun outings, but after he cries while they're getting ready to go, he's over it and totally ok with being here!
(Sigh) I guess the silver lining is that he's stating dry on his own pretty well in the morning, enough that I think it will be ok to send him to preschool and the accidents will happen at home in the afternoon/evening.
Showing posts with label potty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potty. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Waiting...
1. For teeth. C cut 2 bottom teeth in October at five months, but we are still waiting for the next batch at 8.5 months. Meanwhile, he's sporting the drool bib look. And you can kind of see how his hair got cut! Looking so big!
2. For the next prospective tenants. Yesterday was a debacle, I parked the kids with PBS and cleaned like crazy this morning and took them to open gym at the gymnastics center to get them outta here, only for them to no show.
3. For Aunt L. She's flying in tomorrow to help us move back to MI! Maybe tomorrow I can start packing...
4. For the poop to hit the potty. Today is day 3 of N's The Boss. I will not declare victory until he starts Kindergarden at this point, but he's keeping himself dry from about 7am to 5pm. All bets are off after 5, though. Trying to make him clean up his own mess as much (and as uncomfortably) as possible. He does not like it, so I think the message is getting through. Painfully slow for me, but 3 weeks ago he was not in unders at all, so progress is progress!
2. For the next prospective tenants. Yesterday was a debacle, I parked the kids with PBS and cleaned like crazy this morning and took them to open gym at the gymnastics center to get them outta here, only for them to no show.
3. For Aunt L. She's flying in tomorrow to help us move back to MI! Maybe tomorrow I can start packing...
4. For the poop to hit the potty. Today is day 3 of N's The Boss. I will not declare victory until he starts Kindergarden at this point, but he's keeping himself dry from about 7am to 5pm. All bets are off after 5, though. Trying to make him clean up his own mess as much (and as uncomfortably) as possible. He does not like it, so I think the message is getting through. Painfully slow for me, but 3 weeks ago he was not in unders at all, so progress is progress!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
New Plan
It's to make N in charge of his own potty needs. It means no reminders, no potty breaks determined by mommy, and N cleans himself up. We had a talk last night about it; we turned all responsibility over to him. He didn't seem to care.
This morning we reminded him out of habit, then handed him his unders to put on because he pulled his soaked diaper back up. That was about two hours ago.
It's killing me to not take him to the bathroom, but he seems happy to be not bothered by me. That is, of course, what the expert in the article I read suggesting this method, says is the problem; he's rebelling.
We figure its worth a shot; he's staying mostly dry and taking himself pee pee sometimes. So the danger is only that he might mess his pants, which is what he's been doing anyhow with a hundred reminders and potty breaks. We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain at this point.
I suppose I'm helicopter parenting this morning. I set the two boys up on blankets to play (and its been working for almost 30 minutes!) while I finish crocheting a gift....and stare at N, willing him to take himself potty. M is thrilled that he has the privilege of running errands with Daddy this morning, something we've been allowing so N gets the idea that boys who poop in the potty get to do fun outings (like preschool!), but he seems happy as a lark playing with his Trios WITHOUT M.
So he may have found a loophole....
Oh, and I tried bribing him to sit on the potty with playing games on my iPhone yesterday. He took about 50 pictures if himself sitting there, and are all variations of this one. Funny kid, he is!
This morning we reminded him out of habit, then handed him his unders to put on because he pulled his soaked diaper back up. That was about two hours ago.
It's killing me to not take him to the bathroom, but he seems happy to be not bothered by me. That is, of course, what the expert in the article I read suggesting this method, says is the problem; he's rebelling.
We figure its worth a shot; he's staying mostly dry and taking himself pee pee sometimes. So the danger is only that he might mess his pants, which is what he's been doing anyhow with a hundred reminders and potty breaks. We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain at this point.
I suppose I'm helicopter parenting this morning. I set the two boys up on blankets to play (and its been working for almost 30 minutes!) while I finish crocheting a gift....and stare at N, willing him to take himself potty. M is thrilled that he has the privilege of running errands with Daddy this morning, something we've been allowing so N gets the idea that boys who poop in the potty get to do fun outings (like preschool!), but he seems happy as a lark playing with his Trios WITHOUT M.
So he may have found a loophole....
Oh, and I tried bribing him to sit on the potty with playing games on my iPhone yesterday. He took about 50 pictures if himself sitting there, and are all variations of this one. Funny kid, he is!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Potty, Naps, and Other Updates
1. Potty. Saturday marked one year (gasp) since I started potty training the boys. N celebrated by keeping his unders dry all day and earning a new black pair of Batman unders. He is still having ups and downs, but I think we are heading the right direction, if I take step back and look at The Big Picture, as in, one day this will be over and he and I will laugh and laugh (hahahahaha!) about the heck he put me through in 2012. M, of course, celebrated 6 months of dryness and awarded himself some stickers for it this weekend, not to be excluded from our merriment.
2. Naps. Today marked one week of being nap-less in Minnesota. We had 4 stellar bedtimes and 3 rotten ones, so I guess it's a success? Still tweaking it a bit, think we missed the magic "window of opportunity" which occurred around 5pm, then they got their second winds and were literally jumping on their beds till 8:30, but hey, Who cares, right? (Sigh) thank The Lord they passed out ten minutes after I closed the door tonight, the way I thought kids actually went to bed before I was a parent - oh, the power of television!
3. Dentist. I'm cavity-free today and got the usual lecture about flossing that I get very 6 months and I assume everyone gets, but today I learned I'm special and not in a good way. Apparently, I clench my teeth, which is causing damage and will need repair if I don't quit clenching and floss (more) regularly. So all day long, I (tried to) pay attention, and wouldn't you know it, I DO clench my teeth! And guess when I do it? When I'm dealing with N and the potty, which is every 45 minutes according to my phone timer, or at other random intervals when he decides not to make it in the bathroom. So if you put two and two together one could argue that potty training is actually causing me physical harm. When I researched the teeth clenching online, guess what helpful advice I found? Reduce stress. Sure, no problem.
4. Pre-school. Why am I freaking out about potty training? Because they have to "take care of their own toileting" to attend pre-school. Which starts for them Feb. 5. I've been playing Third Day's recent album, "miracle," praying for this, because, folks, I need one! N is not swayed by bribes, rewards, stickers, candy, unders, iPads, outings, or "adventures," and sometimes opts to stay home with me instead of go on a fun trip to Menards with Daddy and M, so I'm kind of concerned that my threat, "M will go to pre school and you will stay home unless you keep your unders clean and dry, " holds no clout. Mama needs preschool perhaps more than the boys, but you can't go unless you're potty trained and I've been training you for a year o my gosh I'm clenching my teeth just writing this!!!!!!
5. Other Updates. We have more news that I'm very close to being able to tell you. Once I do you might understand the teeth clenching. No one is pregnant or sick, no, nothing like that. I'm going to go nurse a baby and go to bed and probably clench my teeth all night in my sleep thinking about how to tell you.
2. Naps. Today marked one week of being nap-less in Minnesota. We had 4 stellar bedtimes and 3 rotten ones, so I guess it's a success? Still tweaking it a bit, think we missed the magic "window of opportunity" which occurred around 5pm, then they got their second winds and were literally jumping on their beds till 8:30, but hey, Who cares, right? (Sigh) thank The Lord they passed out ten minutes after I closed the door tonight, the way I thought kids actually went to bed before I was a parent - oh, the power of television!
3. Dentist. I'm cavity-free today and got the usual lecture about flossing that I get very 6 months and I assume everyone gets, but today I learned I'm special and not in a good way. Apparently, I clench my teeth, which is causing damage and will need repair if I don't quit clenching and floss (more) regularly. So all day long, I (tried to) pay attention, and wouldn't you know it, I DO clench my teeth! And guess when I do it? When I'm dealing with N and the potty, which is every 45 minutes according to my phone timer, or at other random intervals when he decides not to make it in the bathroom. So if you put two and two together one could argue that potty training is actually causing me physical harm. When I researched the teeth clenching online, guess what helpful advice I found? Reduce stress. Sure, no problem.
4. Pre-school. Why am I freaking out about potty training? Because they have to "take care of their own toileting" to attend pre-school. Which starts for them Feb. 5. I've been playing Third Day's recent album, "miracle," praying for this, because, folks, I need one! N is not swayed by bribes, rewards, stickers, candy, unders, iPads, outings, or "adventures," and sometimes opts to stay home with me instead of go on a fun trip to Menards with Daddy and M, so I'm kind of concerned that my threat, "M will go to pre school and you will stay home unless you keep your unders clean and dry, " holds no clout. Mama needs preschool perhaps more than the boys, but you can't go unless you're potty trained and I've been training you for a year o my gosh I'm clenching my teeth just writing this!!!!!!
5. Other Updates. We have more news that I'm very close to being able to tell you. Once I do you might understand the teeth clenching. No one is pregnant or sick, no, nothing like that. I'm going to go nurse a baby and go to bed and probably clench my teeth all night in my sleep thinking about how to tell you.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Zoo Fun
Our Zoo Membership expires in a few days so we've taken to the boys there twice this month to get the most out of it. I only take the old Sony Handycam there so the photos aren't the greatest, but we sure do have fun! Here are a few:
For those of you who've never been to the MN zoo, you should know the "Beehive" is a recent addition, an indoor play area for kids ages 1-3, but most importantly, it has a kiddie sized potty. A tiny little fully functioning potty that would kill a full sized adult to sit on, but perfect for the kids. So now we make a "beeline" straight for the beehive when we go in and when we go out, hence all the photos in there. Also, the boys actually LIKE to go to the potty in there! So we go. ("Regular" public restrooms with the auto-flush toilets still scare them to death.)
We love the zoo and can't wait to go back, when Momma is a little less prego this summer and the boys hopefully (N) are a little less fond of running away from said slow Momma.
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| Checkin out the tortoises |
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| Komodo Dragon! |
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| Lunch with our buddy, S. Don't they look like they're in school?! |
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| M hams it up in the Beehive room |
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| M is a worker bee! |
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| Daddy, M, N and the penguins |
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| M hamming it up again, pollinating this time. |
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| N collecting "pollen" |
We love the zoo and can't wait to go back, when Momma is a little less prego this summer and the boys hopefully (N) are a little less fond of running away from said slow Momma.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Experimenting with the iPad
Today is the third day N is staying in due to an annoying low grade temp. I'm glad it's nothing more, but it's caused him to miss school - Daddy and M had a social outing to school and the flower shop to pick out my Valentine's "roses" (aka begonias) - and to cancel hosting a play date at our house today.
So now the boys and I are sitting at the table doing play dough and I'm thinking I haven't blogged in almost a week. Hubs has a me iPad, which he generously shares with me (when he's home) so I thought I'd test out its blogging capabilities. So far, it's easier than my iPhone, but typing is harder than my desktop, despite being told its just like a keyboard. Guess it will take time.
Next I,ll try to upload the play dough pics I just took. Here goes....
Not working. I can't choose the "choose image" button on this device just like I can't on my iPhone which is why they are sans photos when I blog on the phone. Surely ther is a fix for this? Is it a blogger issue or just me? Maybe Bonnie will know.
She's the awesome twin mom whose blog I love, (try insert link then have blogger tell me it won't ave due to errors) Hm, doesn't look like that like is gonna work either. Just use the link on the left of the page to check out her blog. Last month she posted about iPad apps her boys like to play and we downloaded several of them for our kids to play as a poop-on-the-potty reward when it appeared the poopy prize jar wasn't working.
Side note: Prize jar is beginning to work. M has gone several time this week and N twice, but since he's not been feeling well, he's had more accidents. Frustrating, but par for the course, I suppose. M has been choosing those nasty ring pops over iPad apps. Thank goodness there is only one left. I'd remove it, but he knows it's there.
Verdict: better than a phone blog update, but not by much. Blogs without pics are terribly boring. Maybe they'll finally nap this afternoon so I can get to my trusty rusty desktop. And I can't stand the auto correct feature- makes me look completely dumb like I can't spell, which is far from true. I won second place in the Bay County spelling bee in sixth grade. Among other literary accomplishments, like graduating summa cum laude with an English major, but iPad is no respecter of persons.
So now the boys and I are sitting at the table doing play dough and I'm thinking I haven't blogged in almost a week. Hubs has a me iPad, which he generously shares with me (when he's home) so I thought I'd test out its blogging capabilities. So far, it's easier than my iPhone, but typing is harder than my desktop, despite being told its just like a keyboard. Guess it will take time.
Next I,ll try to upload the play dough pics I just took. Here goes....
Not working. I can't choose the "choose image" button on this device just like I can't on my iPhone which is why they are sans photos when I blog on the phone. Surely ther is a fix for this? Is it a blogger issue or just me? Maybe Bonnie will know.
She's the awesome twin mom whose blog I love, (try insert link then have blogger tell me it won't ave due to errors) Hm, doesn't look like that like is gonna work either. Just use the link on the left of the page to check out her blog. Last month she posted about iPad apps her boys like to play and we downloaded several of them for our kids to play as a poop-on-the-potty reward when it appeared the poopy prize jar wasn't working.
Side note: Prize jar is beginning to work. M has gone several time this week and N twice, but since he's not been feeling well, he's had more accidents. Frustrating, but par for the course, I suppose. M has been choosing those nasty ring pops over iPad apps. Thank goodness there is only one left. I'd remove it, but he knows it's there.
Verdict: better than a phone blog update, but not by much. Blogs without pics are terribly boring. Maybe they'll finally nap this afternoon so I can get to my trusty rusty desktop. And I can't stand the auto correct feature- makes me look completely dumb like I can't spell, which is far from true. I won second place in the Bay County spelling bee in sixth grade. Among other literary accomplishments, like graduating summa cum laude with an English major, but iPad is no respecter of persons.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Play...Date!
It took us 5 seconds to agree to the free babysitting, and I packed the boys PBJ's in their tiger lunchboxes for the long trip across the street. It was so adorable to see them all bundled up with their cute little backpacks on, I just had to take a picture! They are only two, but look like little gradeschoolers on their way to school!
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| Mom, seriously? Do you really need a picture NOW? |
The boys had so much fun at Mr. L and Ms. T's that it took everything within us to get them dressed and come home. Our neighbors love the boys so much - it's such a blessing to have them in our lives. They are the same ones who bailed us out the very next day when Hubs was near death. (Okay, not really, but sort of.) God bless them!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Separation....Anxiety?
On my part, not theirs. I thought they would HATE having their own rooms, the reason we were separating them to begin with - as punishment. But as the weeks, and the naughtiness, wore on, it dawned on me that they were TRYING to get separated!
They've been sleeping separately for naps since the fall. The second room wasn't set up as anything, so it was just a mattress on the floor in a mostly empty room. I erroneously thought that they would miss each other so much that they would shape up so they could be in each other's company again. Boy, was I wrong!
After several weeks of all-out naughtiness at bedtime, I finally convinced Hubs that we needed to give M the second room, despite that it also needs to be a nursery in four months (GAH!!!!) So, this weekend, we did it. N has the old room and M has the "new" room. Both rooms are mostly empty because they still screw around with everything in there, making them look sparse and bare.
But they love it. N still gives us a hard time when we put him down, but only for 5 minutes. Without M, there's no one to entertain with all of his goofiness and he passes out pretty quickly.
M is a chatterbox and sings songs and reads books well into the night, probably too late. But three nights in, I'm just happy he's staying in bed and not crawling the walls anymore - or bossing N around, telling him to do naughty things. Sneaky.
I, on the other hand, am a tiny bit sad. Weird, because I wasn't sad to see the breastfeeding go, cribs go, the highchairs go, the toddler beds (a bad idea) go when the big kid beds arrived. But separating twin brothers? It doesn't seem right. We want them to be each other's best friends, inseparable buddies, so I'm just the tiniest bit sad that they are totally okay with having their own rooms at just 2 1/2. I thought they'd share a room until the day one got married!
On the other hand, I'm totally happy to report that the last 3 bedtimes have gone (mostly) well. By that I mean the weeping an gnashing of teeth usually accompanied by bedtime is down to just minutes. Who are those people who say bedtime is their favorite time of day with the kids? The ones whose kids listen to stories quietly in laps, and drift off silently to sleep? Does that really happen, because I'm thinking it's only in the movies. Like love at first sight. Everyone wants it to be true, but it's just not.
We will still have to figure out what to do with the bedrooms when Baby Three arrives, but that's so far in the future, I can barely conceive it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I'm praying for miraculous bedtime behavior so that we can "reward" them with moving back in together, and therefore giving the baby his own nursery.
Here are two snaps taken with my iphone yesterday. M "wanted to do a project," so I gave him the dyed noodles and some yarn. The project lasted all of 5 minutes, but he was very serious about it while he did it! The other is N, who found the baby sunglasses they refused to wear this summer or last, and LOVED them yesterday. He wore them all day and night, as evidenced in this photo, where he's playing with Grandpa A's iphone. You can tell it's dark because of the screen's light on his face!
Now that I've got that off my chest and I'm over the separation anxiety of bedrooms, I'll have you know that potty training officially starts on Thursday. So you might not hear from me for awhile. I'll be scrubbing the floors.
They've been sleeping separately for naps since the fall. The second room wasn't set up as anything, so it was just a mattress on the floor in a mostly empty room. I erroneously thought that they would miss each other so much that they would shape up so they could be in each other's company again. Boy, was I wrong!
After several weeks of all-out naughtiness at bedtime, I finally convinced Hubs that we needed to give M the second room, despite that it also needs to be a nursery in four months (GAH!!!!) So, this weekend, we did it. N has the old room and M has the "new" room. Both rooms are mostly empty because they still screw around with everything in there, making them look sparse and bare.
But they love it. N still gives us a hard time when we put him down, but only for 5 minutes. Without M, there's no one to entertain with all of his goofiness and he passes out pretty quickly.
M is a chatterbox and sings songs and reads books well into the night, probably too late. But three nights in, I'm just happy he's staying in bed and not crawling the walls anymore - or bossing N around, telling him to do naughty things. Sneaky.
I, on the other hand, am a tiny bit sad. Weird, because I wasn't sad to see the breastfeeding go, cribs go, the highchairs go, the toddler beds (a bad idea) go when the big kid beds arrived. But separating twin brothers? It doesn't seem right. We want them to be each other's best friends, inseparable buddies, so I'm just the tiniest bit sad that they are totally okay with having their own rooms at just 2 1/2. I thought they'd share a room until the day one got married!
On the other hand, I'm totally happy to report that the last 3 bedtimes have gone (mostly) well. By that I mean the weeping an gnashing of teeth usually accompanied by bedtime is down to just minutes. Who are those people who say bedtime is their favorite time of day with the kids? The ones whose kids listen to stories quietly in laps, and drift off silently to sleep? Does that really happen, because I'm thinking it's only in the movies. Like love at first sight. Everyone wants it to be true, but it's just not.
We will still have to figure out what to do with the bedrooms when Baby Three arrives, but that's so far in the future, I can barely conceive it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I'm praying for miraculous bedtime behavior so that we can "reward" them with moving back in together, and therefore giving the baby his own nursery.
Here are two snaps taken with my iphone yesterday. M "wanted to do a project," so I gave him the dyed noodles and some yarn. The project lasted all of 5 minutes, but he was very serious about it while he did it! The other is N, who found the baby sunglasses they refused to wear this summer or last, and LOVED them yesterday. He wore them all day and night, as evidenced in this photo, where he's playing with Grandpa A's iphone. You can tell it's dark because of the screen's light on his face!
Now that I've got that off my chest and I'm over the separation anxiety of bedrooms, I'll have you know that potty training officially starts on Thursday. So you might not hear from me for awhile. I'll be scrubbing the floors.
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