More Potty time

I decided to make one post for the remainder of the week.

Day 2 (here is day one)

The day started off well.  Instead of dribbling on the floor every 10 minutes like he did yesterday, Mr. Bug peed on the floor 3 times before noon.  This may not sound like an improvement, but I’d rather clean up a bunch of pee 3 times then a little pee several dozen times.  Also, there has been no mopping of pee with hair today.  He also pooped in his underwear, but he told me he was stinky which he’s never done before.  At lunch, he started to pee on the couch.  He stopped when I said stop, we ran to the potty, and he finished peeing there!  This is incredibly exciting to me.  It’s funny how something so small can be such a huge achievement.  We put on Thomas the train underpants, and 10 minutes later he asked for Micky Mouse instead.  So we switched.  He started to pee on the floor, and kept peeing as I picked him up and put him on the potty.  But about half of it got where it was supposed to go, so I guess that’s good.  He peed on the floor 3 more times before bed, but at least he did not play in it today.

Day 3

Today when Mr. Bug woke up, his diaper was completely dry.  I took it off and followed him around with the potty till he started to pee.  Most of it ended up in the potty.  We went to toddler time at the library.  I packed several changes of underwear and pants, anticipating at least one accident while we were out.  He refused to use the potty at the library, but he also didn’t have an accident while we were there.  We got home, and I sat him on the potty where he stayed for 20 minutes without peeing.  He then got up to play with his magnets in the kitchen and peed all over the floor.  We ate lunch, he peed on the floor three more times.  I did not catch it in time to get him on the potty for any of them.  The 3rd time he sat down and started splashing happily in it.  Toddlers are so strange.  Or maybe it’s just mine.  I dumped him in the tub for a bit.  After the bath he peed two more times on the floor, and finally fell asleep in his high chair at dinner time.  Today was worse than yesterday, but better than day 1.  Two steps forward, one step back.  There was no poop today, which does not bode well for tomorrows first pair of underpants.

Day 4

The day started off bad, but it got better.  Diaper was dry in the morning, but the minute I took it off he peed all over the floor, and I wasn’t even close to getting the potty under him in time.  Note to self, take of diaper next to potty.  Granted this should be a no brainer, but I’m not a morning person, and I hadn’t had my coffee yet.  So then I get all his stuffed animals together, a bowl of water, and a bulb syringe.  See where this is going yet?  I told each animal that it was time to go to the potty, set them on the potty, and squirted water into the bowl.  I then gave the animals lots of hugs and kisses for peeing in the potty.  I also had them “pee” on the floor, which I told them no for, set them on the potty, and then repeated the first scenario.  He’s spent most of the morning sitting on the potty while watching TV.  Apparently it worked, because he’s peed in the potty 4 times before noon.  I give him cookies for doing this.  Yes I bribe him.  It works.   Lunch time was a little worse.  Peed on the floor once in the kitchen, and twice in the living room.  The second time in the living room was half in the potty, so 41/2 potty times?  Hubby came home from wal-mart with an elmo potty and sticker book.  But we had a doctors appointment so we went out again.  Mr. Bug did not pee the whole time we were out, though I tried to get him to use the restroom.  He fell asleep on the way home, and did not wet his bed during his nap.  As soon as he got up, I told him it was potty time, and sat him down.  It worked!  More pee in the potty.  More stickers and cookies rewarded.  Unfortunately, the day ended with poop smeared on the floor.  Oh well; win some, lose some.

Day 5

The morning started the same way last night ended.  Poop.  Everywhere.  Well, mostly on the kid, so we tossed him in the tub for a morning bath.  He apparently had not peed yet, and when he got out of the tub to run around naked for a bit, he peed on the floor.  I guess I should have set him on the potty first thing.  A couple hours later, I’m nursing the baby when I hear him say “pee pee in potty.”  He sits sideways on the potty, and pees all over the floor next to him.  I can’t help but laugh.  Especially when he looks up and says “oops, I spill.”  At least he’s getting the idea.  We clean it up, and the next pee makes it into the potty.  He wet himself during nap time, which is no big deal.  Then my hubby bravely takes both kids with him on a grocery run to give me a little time to myself.  Mr. Bug stays dry while they’re out.  I put him on the potty when they got back , but he wanted to go play.  Of course, 5 minutes after I let him up he peed his pants.  We ate dinner, and one more pee made it into the potty before bed time.  All in all, a decent day.

Day 6

Today, Mr. Bug peed in the potty6 times.  He did not pee on the floor once except for dribbling a little bit while he was trying to hold  it on his way to the potty.  He did poop during nap time which meant yet another bath.  I am beyond thrilled at his progress though.  Not much else to say about today.

Day 7

Today we had two accidents in the evening.  The rest of the day, he went in the potty.  One time today, he even told me he wanted to pee.  Though he has yet to poop in the potty, I’d call week one of potty training a success.

This was my trial week.  I decided that I would try potty training for a week, and if it wasn’t working out we’d put it on the shelf for a month or two.  It’s worked out well though, so we’re going to keep up with it.

Bribery

I bribe my kid sometimes.  Mostly when trying to teach him something new.  He’s not really old enough to understand explanations of why something should be done, but he understands treats.  Who doesn’t.  Then, once he figures out what it is that’s expected of him, the treats gradually stop.  That’s when he does stuff because it’s just what he’s supposed to do.

People get weird about bribing/rewarding kids.  Whatever.  The world revolves around cause and effect.  At the most basic level, you do things because of some anticipated reward, or some fear of repercussion.  Sometimes it’s something tangible, other times it’s more abstract.  But this is essentially what drives us.

Right now, my son is two.  He is unable to understand or appreciate the more abstract rewards for his behavior.  So I reward with something tangible.  Something good that he can understand.  I bribe him; and that’s ok.

Potty Traning

Oh dear.  I’ve gotten mixed feedback on starting to potty train Mr. Bug.  Several think I’ve started to early, and several others think I’ve started far too late.  I figure 26 months is as good as any other time. 

Today was day 1.  Most of the day was spent mopping pee up off the floor.  He did actually pee in the potty once, but that was accidental.  He was sitting on the potty while playing, and just happened to need to go during the hour he used it as a chair.  He promptly peed on the floor again 30 minutes later. 

I don’t mind cleaning up the pee.  What I do mind is my toddler thinking pee is something to play in.  He pees on the floor, then sits in it and starts splashing as I grab for a nearby towel to clean it with.  A couple times, by the time I reached him he had turned part way upside down and was rubbing his hair in it as though trying to mop it.  My child is strange.  We ended the day with a nice long bath. 

Squished

It’s three in the morning.  You would think that with a king sized bed and a crib side car I would have plenty of room to sleep.  Instead I have my toddler burrowing into me on one side, and the baby cuddled into my arm on the other.  I set the baby back in the crib area, and scooch the toddler over to the middle of the bed so I can get comfortable.  A few minutes later, both have started to wiggle back towards me.  My husband is lightly snoring on his side of the bed.  Blissfully unaware of the nightly custom.

Sometimes, I can’t wait to have my own space to sleep again, or roll over without waking the children.  I can’t wait to sleep all the way through the night.  With co-sleeping it seems like getting to these goals are two steps forward, one step back.  I hear other moms talk about how early their kids slept through the night; how they never shared the bed with their kids, and I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.

Then, I smell my baby’s head as he snuggles in closer to me; my toddler contentedly says “mama and dada” as he climbs into bed with us and settles in.  I remind myself that in a few years, when I ask them to come cuddle with me, they’ll make faces.  They’ll probably say no.  I remind myself that I’ll have years and years to sleep alone, and only this short time to cuddle with my boys.

So I wake up during the night, and I wake up early in the morning.  We play games in bed until Mr. Bug asks for his breakfast.  And while sometimes I wish they’d grow up and let me sleep, most of the time I wish they’d never grow up.