Surprise!

Elizabeth is learning to use the bathroom. Learning...slowly. Today I could tell she had not heeded my instruction (mother's have a sense for this...it's called "smell").

I asked her, with some exasperation, "Elizabeth, WHY do you have this mess in your pants?!"

She said, "Because. Me wanted to 'prise 'Nea."

"What?" I asked. "You wanted to surprise Linnea?"

"Yeah. Me wanted to say ' 'prise 'Nea! Me have poopy pants!"

And now I know.

Ugh.

Potty training...for the ninth time.

Taking Care of "Business"

It had been that kind of day.
The kind of day that you wish was over and it's not even 4:00 yet.
The kind of day where I made an early supper because I just wanted to be done--done with cooking, done with washing dishes, done with baths, done with bedtime, just.
done.

But it was only 5:30.
So, I did what I always do when I need to check out for awhile.
I purposed to take a bath.

The older children know that they are not to bother Mom in the tub on a day like that unless they are bleeding or on fire.
Ruby,  however, did not.

She knocked on the door.
I wanted to deny her entrance, but knowing that I could end up needing to clean up a puddle if she were not allowed through the door, I granted permission for her to enter.
I pulled the shower curtain shut, she came in and sat down on the little potty seat next to the tub.

I had lit a good-smelling candle, but even it couldn't cover up the "scent" of what she was doing.
Arghhhhhh.
"Ruby, are you done yet?"
"Nope."
"Are you done yet?"
"No."
"Now?"
"Not yet."
Arghhhhhh.
I just wanted a bath, some time to myself, and some reprieve from bad smells.
Obviously, that wasn't going to happen.
Because that is part of my life.
Babies and toddlers and poo.
Grown men and boys and barn clothes and poo.
Little children who never remember to flush the toilet (!!!) and poo.

And so, when my darling little three year old was finished stinking up the whole bathroom minutes after I'd begun my "relaxing" bath, she peeks around the shower curtain and says, ever-so-sweetly, "I'm done now, Mommy, and you take care of the poop, ok?" and out the door she went.

Yes, sweetheart, I'll take care of the poop.
Because that's {part of} my job.

Potty Training 107

 I am often asked

How do I potty train my child????????

Maybe it's because I look like I should know the answers?
Maybe because anyone who would do this over and over and over again surely must be able to accomplish such a thing????

The answer:  (And when I say "answer", I'm using the term loosely.)

To start with, I firmly believe there is no magic formula for potty training.
In my experience, every woman who's told me that allll of her kids were out of diapers by the time they were fifteen months old has had, like, one kid--two at most.

What works for one child may not work for another, and what didn't work for one child may just be the thing that makes it click for another.

I'm on my seventh round of trying to get a child out of diapers potty learning.
You'd think I'd have this thing down pat by now.
But I don't.
And neither does Ruby.

I thought about doing the whole go to the store and pick out some pretty underwear thing, but I haven't been able to go to the store, so we haven't done that.
I did find some little undies from when Linnea was little, but there are only four of them.  Some days this is plenty, other days she's back in a diaper by noon because she's out of clean undies. 
(I began this post before her birthday and had it saved in drafts--she got pretty ballerina ones for a gift so now we have plenty!)

It is as much about my ability to focus as it is hers--I have to remember to remind her to go try to use the potty.  Maybe we struggle because I'm distractable, maybe I just haven't used enough chocolate for bribery.

I have used the kitchen timer system; we set the timer for 30 minutes and the child needs to try to use the potty when the timer goes off.
This has been marginally successful over the years.  If nothing else, soiled/wet diapers get changed every 30 minutes.

We have used both the stand-alone potty chair with the cup thing that you pour out and the snap-on kind that goes on the regular toilet seat.
Currently, it is imperative that we have the separate little toilet because it seems every time Ruby has to go, someone else is on the big potty.
One con of this system is when the potty learning individual desires to pour their good work into the big toilet and is only marginally successful. Bleh.
My experience has been that the little potty is good for girlies who are learning and to not even bother with it for a boy--they'll just miss anyway, (remember this post?) even if they're sitting down and have that fancy little shield in place.  I've been better off to have them use a step stool by the big toilet and a snap-on seat for sit-down jobs.
(I feel like I'm speaking in some kind of code while avoiding using all the "bathroom words". Are you following what I'm saying???)


Truth be told, potty training takes vigilance and a lot of time--and I don't have a lot of time to devote to any one thing.  And since we're being honest (or is that just me?) I'll let you know I really don't like this stage of childhood.  This past week I cried out, "All these puddles--it's like we have a new puppy!"  Yuck.  (Yuck about the puddles...I like puppies.)

I would say the hardest part about little ones learning to use the bathroom is for them to take action when they feel the need to go, instead of waiting until desperation sets in. Sometimes the accident is from not honoring that at all, but many times the puddle happens in the bathroom as she is desperately trying to get the step-stool over to the light switch, reach the switch, then move the stool over to the big toilet, put the potty seat on the toilet aaaaaaaaaaaand by now too much time has elapsed and she's crying because she didn't make it and now we have a puddle on the floor and soggy clothes and some linoleum to wash. *sigh*  She tried, but there were just too many steps...

Granted, I don't deliver a treatise such as this to the casual observer in the grocery store.  I do know that each week sees improvement.  She is doing better each day.  I will "only" have two in diapers when the new baby comes.  (If you remember, I've had three in diapers before.)

Maybe when I'm asked about potty training, I should just say this:

My experience has been that when I quit trying so hard to train the child, the child eventually decided to learn.

How is that for an "answer"?

Words Escape Me

Hmm.

A rope, a bike helmet, on the potty...

I don't even know what to say.

And I Quote:

Elijah, upon walking in on Dad sitting down in the bathroom: "Whoa---Dad! You have a really big butt! You don't even have to hold on!"

And two days later, when Elijah was using the bathroom: "Hey Mom! I have a really big butt just like Dad! No hands!!!"

What Does Three in Diapers Look Like?

This is what stands next to the changing table/dresser
in Ruby's room.
(A dresser top is what I use for a changing table.)

There are three different sizes of cloth prefolds
in these stackable bins.

(The bins sit on top of a dresser of sorts:
four wicker baskets in a stand.
This serves as Ivy's dresser.)

Ivy's diapers are on top,
Ruby's 6 plys are in the middle
and the 8 plys for night-time are on the bottom.

Most days, Elijah wears pullups
as he is potty training,
but if I do need to diaper him, he wears an 8-ply.

I'm sort of used to three in diapers.
But I wasn't always.
I remember when I was pregnant with Ruby,
I was giving the two little boys a bath
and I had this moment...
the moment when I knew that I would have
THREE IN DIAPERS.
Seriously, it took my breath away.
I actually cried.

Then I got a grip,
realized it wasn't going to be that bad,
and continued with the bath.

And it really isn't that bad.

But we are working on having
*only* two in diapers...

Potty Training

Finally, someone who understands
what I go through as the
Woman Who Cleans the Bathroom
in a House Where Five Males Use the Toilet.

I don't think I was prepared for
the realization that
potty training never ends...

Confessions of a Three-Year-Old

The other night--or should I say, very early morning--Christopher realized too late that he had consumed too many liquids before bed (aka: he wet the bed).
I got him changed and into the other bunk.

In the (later) morning, he said to Andrew, "I akswedentwy peed in yours bed wast night." This was news to Andrew, who had roomed-in with Linnea the night before.

I loved the way he tried to say "accidentally" and wanted him to say it again.

I said, "Christopher, can you say 'accidentally' again?"
He said, "Nope. I tannot. I tan onwy say "I am sowwy I peed da bed."

Remind Me

Remind me again why I push and push for being potty trained.
Is it because I really like changing sheets, washing sheets, folding sheets, and making beds?
Could it be that I forgot that since two little boys sleep in the same bed and snuggle up together, that they would both need new pjs in the middle of the night if he pottied?
Or is it because I now need to remember where the bathroom is in every store?
Perhaps it is because peeling off underwear with "number 2" in it is such a pleasant task?

I thin--if I remember correctly--it was because

• He's old enough to do this.
• Three kids in diapers was getting old.
  
• He was and is so excited about wearing "unnerwears"
• He really really really wanted Lightning McQueen unnerwears
• He does so well so much of the time.
  

Sometimes, though, changing diapers wasn't so bad...

Potty Training

Christopher calls from the bathroom, "SOMEONE COME WIPE MEEEEEEE!!"
How it is that he can operate the dvd player and yet cannot wipe his own bottom is what I wanna know.