Category Archives: potty-training
it’s my poop and i’ll put it where i want to…
What makes potty training so delightful? Such a wonderful, sweet bonding time with your toddler/preschooler? It’s the dialogue.
Open, honest dialogue that takes place constantly through their waking hours, and even into their sleeping hours.
I wrote a post back in March where I mentioned starting to potty-train Parker. Ha. Well, that lasted about 2 and half days and now here it is July. He’s officially 3 so I’m feelin’ the pressure. Not just from other people who’s kids were potty-trained in 4 days by 2 years of age. No, from everyone around him who I know has to be subjected to big kid sized poop in a diaper. Lovely.
So anyway, the dialogue…
Parker: “Good morning Mommy!”
Me: “Good morning Parker, do you have to pee-pee? Did you pee in your pull-up? Let’s go try and use the potty.”
Parker: “NOOOOOOO!!!!!! (screaming and howling and buckling his knees as I try to lead him there)
After getting to the bathroom:
Parker: “I want to pee-pee like this. I want to stand up. I’m big.”
Me: “Ok, just be…” (too late) “…careful…”
Parker: “Uh-oh”
Me: “It’s ok, we’ll clean it up.”
Approximately 10 minutes after breakfast:
Me: “Parker, if you have to go poop you tell Mommy. Don’t go poop in your underwear. Poop goes in the potty.”
Parker: “OK! My poop is not coming out.”
Me: “Parker where does your poop go?”
Parker: “In the potty!”
Me: “That’s right so you tell Mommy. You don’t want to get poop on your Thomas underwear.”
As I finish the dishes and clean up Jonah I hear from the other room:
Katie: “Mommeeeeee!!!!!! Parker STINKS!!!!”
Me: “Parker come here! Did you poop in your underwear?”
Parker: “I have to go potty.”
Me: “Did you poop in your underwear?”
Parker: “Yes I did.”
Great. And so it goes, day after day. See how close we are becoming?
Just give me a minute…
It’s 10:30 am and I am already feeling like my brain is going to explode. The days stats so far are…
- Jonah awake (not crying mind you, just hanging out and playing) from 2:30 am – 5:30 am
- Checked email, ate cereal and slurped coffee for approx. 13 minutes
- Theodore awake and waking everyone else at 7:30 am
- Breakfast made, served, cleaned up
- 3 trips to the potty with Parker
- 3 changes of underwear for Parker
- 3 cleaned up messes (carpet, chair, hardwood floor) for Parker
EncouragedOrdered Katie to help Parker brush his teeth to avoid a ten-minute screaming meltdown- Straightening living room and my bedroom
- Nursed Jonah 3 times while sitting on my back’s best friend (the ice pack)
- Got Jonah down for a nap by 10 am
- Helped Katie with Grammar and Time
- Helped Theodore with pre-school sheets
- Helped Foster with Time and Grammar
- Broke up a fight between Parker and Theodore then Foster and Katie then Foster and Theodore
- Told Foster I would pay him 5 cents a book for every book he read while Parker sits on the potty
- Showed Foster how to keep up with his book total using tally marks (math lesson anyone?)
And then my stomach was growling and I could tell I was about to…so I made a bacon and cheese omelet, cranberry juice and sent everyone outside. I know Parker is outside doing his #2 business in his underwear, but I’ll just get a cup of coffee first…
How do you avoid mommy meltdowns?
All the Little Grubbs 