Henry is contemplating the economic situation and brainstorming solutions. That, or he's working on a poop.

Potty Training Update

Should I show this one to his girlfriend someday? I thought it was pretty cute, anyway. Warning: This post contains information about potty training. If this isn't your thing, no problem. You don't have to read it.  But I have enough people who wanted to know how it goes that I decided to just make this into a post.

So here's the potty training update:

Greg put Nick into his new, expensive man panties Saturday morning, and spent a few hours getting Nick to go on the potty. He sat and sat but nothing happened. Then, when Greg was in the shower, I put Nick on the potty and we started singing, "The Wheels on the Bus." For some reason, that seemed to do it, and Nick peed in the potty. He seemed so very surprised, but was thrilled with the toy he got (a wind-up helicopter).

I guess Greg didn't have any more success that day.  I left around noon and was downtown all day Saturday. Nick went through lots of 5 ply man panties, all to no avail. He woke up this morning completely soaked. Nick sat on the potty several times with no luck. You'll notice from the pictures that we have lots of interesting items in the bathroom: books, markers, paper, crayons, and a dry erase board. That's to keep him entertained enough to sit there for awhile without getting mad. Finally, Greg got him to pee on the potty, and gave him some silly putty as a prize. Nick was thrilled, but then immediately pooped in his pants.

By the way, we learned two important lessons here today. First of all, silly putty makes quite a mess when a toddler pulls it into strings and flings it all around the living room. Also, supposedly "waterproof" five-ply underwear doesn't hold a good sized toddler BM. Nick had two of those today, and one leaked so badly that it got up to his hair. He has had three baths this weekend.

Today we had to go to a birthday party, but we are stubborn and didn't want to go back to the diapers, even just for a few hours. It was a party for a two-year-old, so Nick was able to sit on the potty a few times, though he never had any success. Instead he wet through his pants very badly while sitting on Greg's lap, ruining both pairs of pants. I teased Greg because of the location of the wet spot on his jeans. It looked as though Greg was the one who'd wet his pants.

Late this afternoon, I took Nick to the Babies 'R Us to choose some new training paraphernalia. I let him pick out Elmo man panties, plastic pants, and a new Elmo potty seat. No luck since then, but Nick sat on the potty willingly at least four times this evening.

Here are the numbers:

Days: 2

Total Potty Trips: 14

Successful Potty Trips: 2

Toys Earned: Also 2

Random Items Thrown Into Potty: 4, not including tons of toilet paper (1 hair band, 1 orange crayon, and the tag from my new maternity shirt)
Number of Times Toilet Flushed (Empty): 23

Wet/Dirty Pairs of Man Panties: 10
Fits Thrown: 7

Outfits Worn: 5

Baths: 3
Amount Spent on Additional Potty Paraphernalia: $76

Additional Pairs of Man Panties Purchased: 9

Additional Pairs of Plastic Pants Purchased: 9

Loads of Laundry: 2

We are not giving up. Greg and I decided that being consistent is the most important thing, so we're keeping Nick in training pants until he's trained. At least we're going to try, especially since our babysitter and Nick's Grandma Toni are willing to help us with the process during the week.

The only compromise that we made was to keep Nick in diapers at night. I feel very hypocritical expecting Nick to make it through the night without peeing, because I get up at least three times a night lately. Also, since Nick started crawling out of his crib, we've child-locked his door from the inside.

From what I've read, this process can take a really long time if parents keep switching back and forth. I'd rather see it through and persevere, even if it takes more patience than either Greg or I have right now. I bought three different kinds of training pant options to try, but I'm not going to go with pull-ups. From my experience, I think that those don't allow kids to feel when they're wet. I want Nick to care when he's soaked. He's already becoming more aware of the feeling. Nick is 28 months old now, and its time.

Wish us luck. We're going to need it over the next few. . . weeks? months? 

And So It Begins. . .

What, you say? What begins? Well, the joys of potty training. Last weekend Greg and I bought Nick his own little potty. He's been talking about using the potty for awhile, but I don't really believe in pushing kids into potty training too early. (Even though my mother insists I was potty trained at 18 months.)

However, since Nicholas is now two, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get him confortable with the idea of using a potty. He became incredibly excited when we were in the Target and he saw the potties. The store had conveniently put them on the bottom shelf, easily accessible to toddlers. So Nick tried sitting on each of them, insisting, "I go poopy on the potty!" Here's what we decided on:

We chose this model for ease of cleaning rather than style. The fancy ones with the buttons and sound effects were cute in the store, but I could imagine them being rather gross to clean out. This one had fewer crevices. Plus, Nick liked it. He kept pointing to it in the back of the cart as we shopped, exclaiming, "That's my potty!" to anyone who walked past. We figured he was enthusiastic enough to at least give it a try.

I do have more experience than your average mom in this challenging endeavor called potty training. You see, I supported myself through most of my high school and college years by working in daycare centers. I even spent an entire summer working in the "2s" room, along with another adult plus sixteen two-year-olds. Our goals were 1.) to potty train them, 2.) to prevent them from biting one another, and 3.) to try to get them to take afternoon naps. Sound easy? Let's just say they were like a game of whack-a-mole: you get most of them to take a nap, and then somebody pees on the floor. As you're cleaning up that mess, somebody bites somebody else and the resulting cries wake up three more children, one of whom has a dirty diaper. While you're cleaning up that stinky mess, the other two bite one another, leading to more crying, and, ultimately, more peeing on the floor. I remember spending a lot of time with bleach water, and even more time writing up "biting reports." There is a very good reason I did not even consider having children before age 30. Anyhow, whenever I get frustrated with Nick, I just remember that summer and try to think of what it would be like with fifteen more of him. Then I smile and give my boy a hug.

Anyhow, back to our ill-fated first potty training attempt. I should warn sensitive readers that this is not a story to read while eating a snack. In fact, if you are at all grossed out by potty-type talk, please just stop reading right here.

***Warning*** Gross but funny story ahead

From my considerable potty training experience, I did learn that for very young little boys, they need to connect the dots and figure out when they are peeing. You have to be lucky enough to catch them peeing and get some in the potty. Then a lightbulb goes on and they start to get what to do (hopefully). We started out by giving Nick a nice big cup of orange juice. We hardly ever give Nick juice of any kind, but since we all have colds I figured the Vitamin C would be good for us. Over the course of about an hour, Nick drank about 14 ounces of orange juice. He told us "I go potty!" so Greg took him into the bathroom and showed him how to sit on his new potty.

Nicholas was super-excited about the potty, though he didn't really want to sit on it much. He was more interested in pulling out the bowl, touching the froggy's eyes, and even wearing it like a hat. I suggested to Greg that perhaps we should just leave Nick sans diaper for awhile, and try to catch him peeing. Nick certainly was happy enough wandering around naked, and we have hardwood floors. I decided that after all of that orange juice, something was sure to happen soon.

Fast forward about an hour. Not only has no pee decided to appear, Nick has determined that the potty is the greatest toy ever. He especially likes to sit on it with one foot in the bowl, and put toys into it. Since it was nearly dinnertime, we were about ready to give up and put the diaper back on. Then comes the gross part.

I'm sure you've guessed it by now. #2. All over the floor in a giant pile, about a foot from the potty. Nick announced immediately afterward, "I go poopy!" Never have I seen such a look of horror on my husband's face. Indeed, the look on his face alone made me start laughing hysterically as we tried to stop Nick from spreading it around the living room. Greg cleaned up the worst of the mess as I scrubbed Nick the tub. I laughed the entire time, because, at that point, what else can you do? It was my own fault for leaving the diaper off for so long. My daycare experience served me well after that, when I remembered how to make a 10:1 bleach water solution to sanitize both the floor and the potty.

As for Nick, he didn't seem to care at all about the mess he had made. But he was really, really ticked off when I had to wrestle him into a diaper after his bath. Nick wanted naked time to go on forever. He never did pee, at least not that night. However, when Greg woke him up this morning, he had soaked through his pajamas, blankets, and sheets. My boy must have a super bladder to have held it that long.

We'll try again this week, but I am not in a hurry. I know that this process can take a long time, and I will make it into a power struggle if we try to push it too soon. A power struggle with a two-year-old is one that will definitely be lost. Nick is still excited about his potty, so we'll go slowly and try periodically as our patience allows. Most importantly, I know I have to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Exhaustion and Baby Cleanliness

Sometimes babies need baths. Especially since finger foods are messy. Yes, that is a half of a blueberry stuck to my son's forehead. I believe the orange stuff around his mouth is a mixture of carrots and banana.

Diaper changes can make baths even more necessary. You see, the "pincher grip" that is a developmental milestone for infants, is also a pain in the rear end. For once a baby can use the pincher grip to lift cheerios, he can also use it to lift a dirty diaper, whilst he is being changed. Thus, having the pincher grip, said baby boy can easily fling his dirty diaper up against the wall, coating both himself and his exhausted mother with its contents.

The easiest way to deal with such a foul mess is a bath. Of course, the bedraggled (and excrement covered) mother must first use baby wipes to clean off the worst of the mess from the baby's hands, feet, and tummy. Then she must change her shirt (which will never be the same again).

Next, the baby must be carried, naked of course, down to the kitchen so that a bath can be readied. This particular baby thinks that naked time is the best time, and he loves every second of his unclothed time.

The final step in this process is, of course, the bath, which sanitizes the baby until he again uses his pincher grip for evil deeds.

Here Nick is playing with his favorite rubber duckie. He got it from his Aunt Sarah, and he loves to wave it around and chew on it while sitting in the tub.

Singing in the tub is another of Nick's favorite hobbies. He bounces up and down and hums to the beat of his own drummer. Nick's favorite thing is when I spray him with the kitchen sprayer. It must tickle, because he giggles uproariously.

The video below shows Nick chewing his duckie and singing happily. It does not show how he threw a fit when I tried to take him out of the tub. It also does not show how he waited until he was covered in baby lotion to try to squirm away from me (while trying to avoid getting his pajamas put on).

I've been extremely tired since school started. I'm thinking it is my thyroid, and hoping this exhaustion will abate once the doctors have figured out the right level of medication. I have been going to sleep as early as 8 p.m., and sleeping through until 6 a.m. Yesterday I did a pilates DVD, and I was nearly asleep on my feet by the time I made it through. Today I went to the YMCA, and I could've easily gone to bed before 7 p.m. However, I had a baby to take care of and some poop to clean up.

I also make it a point to play with Nick for about an hour each day. Often, Nick will play happily by himself and I can just talk to him while I do whatever I have to, popping my head in and showing him different toys. It isn't that I'm not with him all afternoon and evening, but for one hour, I just focus on him, talking to him and playing with him in the baby cage. Then, after dinner and bathtime, I read two or three board books to him before bed. I think it's a good routine.