Our New Best Friend

By all rights I should have posted this in March, but, you know, new baby and stuff.

The last time I brought up potty training I was despairing of Michael ever being potty trained. He would go on the toilet, sometimes, but he didn't seem to care if he also went in his pull-up. He was not motivated by anything. M&Ms, watching a show, stickers, wearing big-boy underwear... "No fank you." I was all set to give up and just have three kids in diapers for. ever.

But then! John Paul was born, and Alex had a week of paternity leave. He worked hard with Michael to give him the consistency that I hadn't been able to give, and Michael was doing pretty well except for the whole #2 thing. We were at a total loss. How do you tell a kid how to poop on command? Seriously.

Our last ditch effort was a combination of stickers and a big reward. Michael got a sticker on his chart every time he peed in the toilet, and he was promised a big reward when he finally went poop. Alex and my dad (in town for JP's baptism) took Michael to Walmart to pick out his very own reward. His cousins are big into the Avengers, so I was expecting his to come home with Captain America or maybe Thor. And I was pretty much fine with that. Obviously he needed to be in charge of letting us know what would motivate him, since all of our ideas were total failures (even the Thomas stickers... I thought for sure those would be such a hit).

Well. The guys came home shortly, and Michael proudly produced his reward: the Hulk. Big, green, ugly, angry. Not a toy I would have picked out for him. I gave Alex an "Are you serious?" look, and Alex explained that they didn't have any Captain America figures and Michael really wanted this Hulk. Oh well. We put the box up on the windowsill in the bathroom, and Michael could have his new toy as soon as he pooped in the toilet.

But it worked! Within 24 hours of bring "Hoch" home Michael did poop in the toilet, and he hasn't had a poop-related accident since (knock on wood... oh please don't let me jinx this)! We continued to use the sticker chart for several weeks to help work on a good attitude about going potty when told to do so, and it was helpful for a while. Michael has had several minor accidents (mostly getting distracted playing and just not quite making it to the bathroom in time) and two or three bigger ones (where he apparently didn't realize he was even peeing until he was completely done). 

Alex suggested trying underwear at night about a month or so after JP was born, and I told him he was welcome to try it if he wanted, but as I was going to be nursing the baby all night he would be the one changing sheets when Michael inevitably wet the bed the first night in underwear. Needless to say we waited, but for the last several weeks he has been waking up during the night to go potty (usually pretty traumatic--he is so tired and doesn't want to be awake), and so a few nights ago we finally took the plunge. He is doing great.

So. Thus endeth the potty training epic (unless M totally regresses because I finally got around to blogging about his success). It is still my least favorite thing about parenting, but I feel slightly less despairing about Liam's turn coming up in another two years or so. Besides, now that Michael is potty trained it is going to be his job to potty train his brothers. I'm done.

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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