Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Re-potty training!

Yep.  You read it right. 

We're truly blessed with our two in most areas.  Despite coming home at 14 months, they have never had speech issues.  In fact, at their 21/2 year old check-up, they were speaking at a 4 year olds vocabulary level.  They've memorized the Lord's Prayer.  The EAT any and everything.  They excel at sports.  They self taught themselves to ride bikes without training wheels at 3 years old. 

We are very spoiled parents.  And very blessed. In most areas.

Because.

Neither one of our little ones are successfully navigating the World on No Diapers.

Nighttime.  Not a problem.

Daytime.  LOTS of problems.

They went into undies last year (around three).  Austin had some relapse last summer and then again when school started up.  All centered around "change."  I was told not to worry.

Fall. Winter.  Most weeks had at least one or two accidents.

But then, this spring.  When the weather turned warm.  It seems both boys FORGOT all about using the White Porcelin Throne.  At all. 

The straw that broke the camels back was a few weeks ago.  Several days in a row.  I found pants in their closet that should have gone into the laundry.  Seems that "pee, change, play" were the modis operadus.  Not to mention all the clothes that we did catch.  Gary was up to his eyeballs in laundry!  ;-)

Last weekend, the boys and I went to the Wholesale club and bought a GIGANTIC box of pull-ups.

Now, each morning, with a permanent marker, I write a number on the diaper.  At the end of the day they have to turn that same diaper back into me "accident-free" to claim a sticker.  That was 7 days ago.  Austin has earned THREE stickers.  Logan TWO.

They have to get 14 stickers to earn a prize.  It was going to be a new Spiderman bike - one with a KICKSTAND.  and HANDBREAKS.  But I've told them they can earn WHATEVER they WANT!  A new Batman costume.  A soccer uniform.

ANYTHING!

sigh

I don't know why they can't master this.  I try, I really try not to fuss and yell.  It is so frustrating.

And yet, I have to remind myself, this too shall pass.  EVENTUALLY, they'll get it. 

I can beat myself up wondering WHY.  Trying to CONTROL it.  Getting FRUSTRATED with it all.

Or I can just suck it up and DEAL with it. 

~ ~ ~ ~
Here they are, racing like speed demons down a hill.  On their bikes.

After wrestling knee pads onto them, I was feeling confident that I had outsmarted them with extra safety measure.  Accept, like most things with them, my PLAN backfired.  Once they realized they could fall withOUT getting hurt....they fell MORE.  On Purpose.

(The song was auto picked, and I thought the "head-bobbin'" part was cute, so I kept it!)

8 comments:

Helene said...

You're right...the head bobbing totally went with the beat of the music!! How funny!!

I'm impressed that they can both ride without training wheels! Cole just now figured it all out and he's already 5.5 years old! So your boys are waaaayyyy ahead of the program in that area!

The whole potty training process is ridiculous. Garrett and Landon could care less but a friend of mine promised to buy them Spidermen underwear if they could go a week with no accidents. So of course they're trying their hardest. As if I didn't already try promising them things like that, including the moon and stars in the sky?!

You know what, Donna...the only thing that gives me peace is knowing that someday they, too, will be parents going through this same exact thing with their kids. Then we'll be able to just smile and say, "Oh yes, I remember those days"!

Heidi said...

Oh my gosh, the head bobbing! Love it. I can't believe they can ride without training wheels. That is Emmi's dream. :) Sorry about the potty training, at least that's the only issue! Jake has been potty trained a year HOWEVER has speech issues so all kids are different and test their parents in all sorts of different ways!

Dawn said...

Oh my gosh that's CUTE!! The head bobbing had me laughing!!! :D

And the potty training? Yeah, I had one like that. Still in pull-ups at FOUR. She just didn't have TIME. lol! The good news is she's 16 and she's fully trained now. ;)

Hannah said...

The head bobbing was AWESOME!! That is too funny!

Sorry you are struggling with the potty training. Boys are just hard. Dmitry took forever to potty train, he was the opposite...stayed dry during the day, wet at night.

I think part of it could be that there is two of them...constantly playing and distracting each other. I know my two were always more apt to have accidents when playing with friends because they did not want to stop for a second. It could be worse, you could have a child that uses her bladder as a weapon when she gets mad. Vengeful Tinkle is awful! :)

Love ya!

Steph said...

Well, I suppose they can't be perfect in EVERYTHING. :) They need to come over and teach Eli how to ride his bike. He's got the potty thing goin' on, but can't figure out the pedal thing!

Greta Jo said...

Too Cute Donna. Carson is still having potty issues. He is STILL in diapers....I have watched every potty training video, did the reward system, he wants NOTHING to do with the potty.
I really hope this summer we can get together.

Bobbi said...

UGH!!! Potty training is always a nightmare!! Here's a tip. Not sure if it will work, but it so did with Reese. I DID NOT CARE (I totally did) if he used the potty or not. It killed me. About three weeks after I stopped caring, he started caring. That was the end of all the struggles. I also wasn't overly reactive or rewarding with it when he did. I said "good job" "I'm proud of you" and just went about my day. (Translate, closed door and did happy dance!!!) As soon as he couldn't control me he didn't care. But, everyone is different...

They still amaze me with their ability to ride bikes and play sports!! I cannot believe it!! I loved the head bob---and the intentional fall!! They always one up you. I cannot imagine the teen years.....

Good luck with the potty!!

Suzanne said...

You have beautiful, healthy, happy kids!!! I am sure that in a few months, this will all be BEHIND you:)