So Much Fail

Wow. How's that for a depressing title? It will also contain commentary on bodily fluids and the elimination habits of said fluids--you've been warned.

Mostly it's failure to go into labor. Which isn't really failure at only 39 weeks 1 day. And at my appointment yesterday I learned that John Paul is in excellent position and my OB is on call tomorrow night... so, I'm hoping and praying for labor to start in approximately 28 hours. Come on JP, don't you want to start your ex utero life out as Mama's supremely cooperative little boy?

If only.

I also failed at the 7 posts in 7 days challenge. I pretty much expected to fail at that one, but I was hoping I would miss a day or two because of, you know, having a baby. Noooope, just busy/tired/internet issues (after 5 minutes on the phone with CenturyLink, pushing various buttons to get various other recordings, "It sounds like you'll need to talk to a representative for this." Um, yeah, that's why I called. Thanks. Also, the "Did you know you can chat with a tech support representative online" tip? Not helpful when I am calling because my internet is BROKEN. And yes, I did try resetting my router before I called you. At least three times. But of course I'll try again...)

Sorry... where was I?

Oh, fail #1, fail #2, and fail #3: potty training (not a bodily fluids person? you can skip the rest!)

I should have blogged about potty training last week when we were experiencing some exciting success. Then it would have been a "this is hard and I hate it above pretty much all other aspects of parenting, but I do believe there is hope" post. Today? Today I probably shouldn't write about potty training (other than to write that I'm not writing about potty training... just go with it) because it is more likely to be a "hate. fail. okayfinejustweardiapersorpullupsforeveridontevencare" post.

Oh well.

We started potty training in January. It is now March. Last week we had a major break-through--Michael went on the "big potty" at Cici's house--first time going anywhere other than on his little singing (yes, singing) potty chair at our house. And then within two days he decided he was done with his little chair and was going consistently and exclusively on the toilet. And keeping his pull-up dry (mostly). Still no #2 action whatsoever in any kind of potty chair of any size, but it was nice to feel like we were making some fairly significant progress. I was starting to believe that there actually was hope, and after two months of traveling down this tunnel we had maybe turned a corner and there was light visible at the other end...

This week I think he can sense my utter exhaustion and total distraction with thinking/hoping that labor is right around the corner. He simply doesn't care if his pull-up is wet or dry. He'll try to go potty if we remind him, but even when I'm trying to remind him at consistent and very short intervals, I'll inevitably miss the magic moment and five minutes later he has a wet pull-up. Again. And he is totally unpredictable with what motivates him. We were doing M&Ms for a while, and backed off when he started being really consistent about keeping his pull-up dry. I tried going back to offering treats and most of the time his response is "No fank you." Well, at least he's polite about being indifferent to potty training, I guess.

Okay, enough complaining. Let's end on a happier note.

We got Michael a David & Goliath puzzle for his birthday, and he loves it. We've been working on talking about the story, and I'm starting to think that maybe Veggie Tales, while great for a lot of things, isn't the best medium for teaching Bible stories to preschoolers.

Ash: What was the giant's name?
M: Goliaf.
Ash: And who was the boy?
M: David!
Ash: And even though David was so much smaller than Goliath, he won when they had a fight. Why did David win, Michael?
M: Because Goliaf was a pickle!

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