| Who woulda thought... | | Date Created: Feb 01, 2007, 11:06 AM |
Who could have imagined today would turn out to be a great day?! I know it's not even halfway over, so I'm calling it kind of early, but I'm telling you I just knew it was going to stink. I woke up late and with a raspy throat. James was fussing fussing fussing. Third day of balls-out potty training with no idea of how it's going to go. Weather forecast literally and figuratively cold and rainy.
And then...one miracle after another. James and John got on the potty and went immediately! No sitting around reading books and rubbing their boy parts on the potty seat. Just sit down get business done and back on their feet in no time! Then I told them that if they help me clean their rooms they could watch a movie. They said okay and with a few hiccups, we cleaned their rooms! I really couldn't believe it.
I made a quick mixed CD of good tunes to get us going. And I was searching on the internet for the theme song to "Wonder Pets" that the boys love to sing and which was for once a song I actually wanted going through our heads. It goes, "What's gonna work--TEAMWORK!" And then it says that a few thousand more times. I didn't find the music itself I could download, but it was so funny that when I searched "Wonder Pets Theme Song" literally hundreds of blogs from parents just like mine popped up with various comments on the Wonder Pets song, from those who can't get it out of their heads in a bad way to those who want it constantly playing as background music in their home. I had no idea what a lightning rod of a topic the song was, but I have to say, it worked for me! We sang the Wonder Pets song and then put on the CD I made and started in George's room. At first the boys were a tad...distracted. It was as if all of the thousands of toys on George's floor had never been seen before. Look! A zebra! Everything had to be touched and played with. But I held my ground and repeated myself again and again and again. James, books on the shelf. James, books on the shelf. John, animals in the bin. John, animals in the bin. George, trucks in the bin. George, trucks in the bin. It ain't perfect--sticking to one task is hard. But with a little help and patience they really can do it. The first time we tried cleaning up together, which was way too late--I swear when they're 3 weeks old you need to start singing that Wonder Pets song and making them put their rattles and pacies in the right place--it was so frustrating. I gave orders which quickly turned to me yelling orders which quickly turned to a headache which quickly turned to my doing it myself because it was so much easier. I have adjusted the expectation in my mind from James whistling a tune while he stacks boxes of games in the closet, John marching along collecting animals and tossing them into bins according to African safari, eastern woods, sea creatures, dinosaurs, and other, and George alphabetizing the books on his bookshelf to giving each one a job, helping them along, not getting too annoyed if they take a break from picking up books to picking up trucks, not being sad if they aren't really really excited about cleaning up and working as team (!), feeling fine about bribing them with a movie, and then in the end being totally surprised to look at the completely imperfect rooms and think, "They actually look A LOT better!" All the little stops and starts of "trying" do eventually add up to something. It is truly truly truly easier to do it myself, but with a little patience we actually had fun! And used up a good 45 minutes or so. Now they're watching the movie reward and I can write. Another miracle: after the Mildly Successful Clean-Up of '07, I walked into the kitchen to find I'd made coffee earlier and forgotten about it. So what a nice suprise to have a nice cup of hot coffee waiting for me on this cold rainy day!
Since I started this blog we have had one potty accident and one potty success, which brings me to the whole potty topic. Tuesday, Will's mom and my mom came over and the boys spent the whole day in underwear (except naptime). I'd gone to Wal-Mart and spent a lot of money on tons of cheap toys. I put these "prizes" in a basket and every time somebody t-t'd in the potty they got to pick a prize. IT WORKED! It wasn't clockwork, but every time they got on the potty they went. They may have had to sit there for 45 minutes at a time and get a red ring around their hineys, but eventually it came. Only for George, it came out about 45 seconds AFTER getting off of the potty. I think his mind is simply too busy to bother with going to the potty. After he gets off, he remembers, oh yeah, wait a second, I was supposed to T-T! And then he does. And he T-T's a lot. He's really almost constantly going unless he's on the potty in which case sometimes he's going. A little sprinkle here, a little sprinkle there. He did get upset when he had an accident, so I guess that's at least a good sign. That night James and John said they really wanted to wear big boy undies to school. I was excited about their ambition, but worried about accidents at school and all the time the teachers might have to spend putting them on the potty and waiting for them to go. Also, you may remember John has a touch of OCD. If he freaks out with three drops of water on his shirt, what would he do with a pants-full of poop or T-T?!? So I called their teacher and gave her a heads-up and she was encouraging. The next morning I packed about six changes of clothes for them. Finding six sets of clothes John will agree to wear is difficult. I had to do loads of laundry to piece together enough of his favorites. At the breakfast table, I prepped the guys, telling them if they had an accident it was A-OK, just to STAY CALM. I also told them how proud I was and excited. And then I looked at the end of the table and there was George. "And I'm going to wear, undies to 'cool, Momoe?" My heart broke. "Well, maybe. Let's go sit on the potty and see. You want to sit on the potty?" "No!" So heartbreak over. I'm not worried about George, he does everything in his own time and then ends up surpassing everyone else. He also doesn't have the "benefit" of the John/James Alpha Dog of the Year competition to spur him on to success. Anyway, at school, there were NO ACCIDENTS! They both got a little T-T on their pants while they were using the potty, but that is totally fine/understandable/easy-to-handle. I was so proud. James had a couple of accidents right after they got to Will's mom's house after school, and then when I picked them up from her house, John had one accident as soon as he walked through the door here. I think our new rule of thumb has to be as soon as they walk through the door anywhere, they need to get their fannies on a potty. THEN they can sniff around, check things out, start playing, or whatever.
I have to say, I am blown away by how well John has done on the potty! Since the one accident yesterday he hasn't had any! Finally we have a good thing come from his OCD. He can't stand to get messy! Or for his much beloved pair of NASCAR undies to get wet. Whoever designed them with their snazzy black bands, or his other pair that is all-black with a red band, is not only fashion-forward, but knows the ins-and-outs of the toddler male psyche much better than I do. Not only have we thrilled the fashion world with our underwear taste (James is not much better in his uber-Euro thin-striped tighties with skinny skinny white white legs), but we have discovered the hottest item in sophisticated, urbane, you could be James Bond when you grow up attire: the nylon track pant. Thank you, fashionistas for their handy easy to pull down in a real big hurry elastic waist. Thank you for the impenetrable synthetic fabric that the T-T rolls right off of, away from Johnny's oh-so-sensitive sensibilities. Thank you for that unmistakable crushy crushy crushy sound that indicates the location of every boy in the house so I know where to run when I hear, "Potty! Potty!" Thank you for those bright colors with the contrasting stripe that are so difficult to match a shirt with you leave me no choice but to be fashion-forward myself and say screw matching. You CAN wear red with orange, John. I love these track pants so much I am going to start wearing them myself (that elastic waist is a no-brainer!) and more importantly I am going to Target tonight to get some more for the boys. As it is, whenever there is an accident, I just slide off the undies and pants in one swoop and drop them into the washing machine. At the end of the day, I wash whatever's there, allowing us to wake to fresh and shiny track pants every morning, so versatile for sure you can wear them for days in a row without raising an eyebrow.
So, it is going well. I am in an unpoppable good mood, because I can taste how close I am to life without diapers. As I mentioned before, the rivalry between John and James has played a role in the success. When James got the fireman phone out of the prize basket, John ran for the potty so he could have one. After James had an accident this morning, John was on the potty, and James was mad. "Can I go on the potty again? Like John?" But don't worry about James being superceded by John's surprise success. He knows how to ruin John's time on the crapper in a right quick way. Before lunch while John was on it (he likes to go on the little portable one and he likes it right next to the front door.??), I was running out of things to do with the guys. James and George were ciricling like vultures over John annoying him on purpose while he was trapped in one spot and couldn't defend himself. John was getting really fussy and I thought we all needed some space but I didn't want John to get off the potty. Today's newspaper was lying right there so I opened it up (I really am training them to poop like men) and when we got to the sports page there was a picture of the Carolina Gamecock in a piece about the Auburn-Carolina game. John shouted, "There's a Gamecock! Gamecocks are roosters." James said quietly but just loud enough for John to hear, "They're chickens, actually." And smiled, safe to strut while John wriggled and flung his arms with his fanny glued to the potty seat.
James wasn't the only smarty pants today. I mean, after all, maybe George has the right idea not being that interested in taking breaks from playing to go to the bathroom or wiping his own rear end. It was a little quiet a while ago, so I thought I better check on things upstairs. James and George were in George's closet, a popular hang-out spot these days. Will and I had stored a box of CD's in there because all of our music is downloaded on our computer. George had gone through the box, found the CD Will's mom had made for them of marching music, gotten their little CD player that wasn't even on at the time, taken out the CD that was in there, put the marching CD in, and it was playing music by the time I got there. I think that's pretty smart!
After lunch we watched birds at the birdfeeder for a long time. They love to come to the feeder on rainy days for some reason. Anyway, John and George have gotten to where they know the names of some of the more frequent bird visitors. And they love looking in the field guide. James is not as interested. What he's interested in is standing next to John at the window and very subtly at first and then not so subtly pushing pushing pushing against John until John can't stand his ground any more. There are three windows along that wall, and finally I had to assign each boy their own window for birdwatching so they wouldn't "touch". John and George took up their positions at their assigned windows. Without the proximity to his brothers, James lost all interest in the birds and went somewhere else. He is so funny. There are some things he is immensely interested in and inquisitive about, but there are a lot of things he could flat-out care less about. Birds being one of them. His main interest is really people and places. He's sort of the man about town type, not so much one to sit and enjoy the sight of birds eating or resting for the sake of some quiet time. He'd rather have a conversation than not and if one's not going on he's quite happy to start one. Last night my friend PollyBeth came over to pick me up for a girls' night out. She walked through the door and James said, "I like those clothes!" Speaking of girls' night out, Will had told the boys that I was going to a party, I guess as a way to explain what I was going out to do. Anyway, George said as I was getting ready to go, "You going to a party?" I said, "I'm just going out with my girlfriends, because I don't have any girls around here to hang out with." George thought for a second and then pointed at me with a huge grin and said, "You're the only girl!" It was a big lightbulb for him. And there are days when I wish I had a little girl and I wasn't the only female in this world of NASCAR undies and little front-end loaders that hurt like hell when you step on them, but not this day at least.
Please excuse all the tenses in here--I wrote this over several different periods today.
Here's the potty stars and their brother enjoying their movie reward in their track pants. For better or worse they are truly little men... |
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