it's about time

I decided it's about time I get busy writing. It's been a busy two weeks. There was a death in my family so we had a sudden trip to Georgia. Overall it was a good trip and I'll share more about it in the coming days. Today I want to focus on the present.

It seems my present is consumed with potty training. Yes, I feel like we should have conquered this long ago, but frankly I was lazy and didn't push it much. Matthew has shown interest but never seemed to show many of the readiness signs that you always hear. I finally decided to bite the bullet and just put him in big boy undies. I bought Thomas the Tank Engine ones and Lightning McQueen ones. I let him pick which kind he wanted to wear (he picked the car, I was surprised!) and we talked about how he should let me know when he needed to potty. This was Wednesday (last week). I asked him periodically if he needed to potty and he said no. I didn't push. A little later, I realized he was wet. I changed him and just said that he needed to let me know when he needed to go. A little later, wet again. I decided then to make him sit on the potty every so often. That worked much better. No more accidents. When David got home from work he was greeted by a yell of "Daddy I am wearing underwear just like you!"

Thursday was day 2 - Only one accident that day, and it was a poop. The boy does not want to poop in the potty.

Friday, day 3 - No accidents. He pooped in his diaper first thing in the morning and after his nap. We went out Friday evening for a few hours, still no accidents. We took his little potty in the car, and then at the mall he even stood up to pee in the little toilet in the family bathroom.

Saturday, day 4 - No accidents. He asked to nap without a diaper. We told him if he stayed dry for the nap that day then tomorrow he could nap in his undies. To our amazement he woke up dry.

Sunday, day 5 - No accidents. We were out and about almost all day and he did great. He napped in his undies and woke up dry. We're proud and starting to brag.

Monday, day 6 - That bragging thing seems to have backfired. He usually poops either first thing in the morning or right after his nap, but this morning I noticed him start to grunt a little, so I asked him if he wanted to potty and he said yes. I ran him to the potty (he can't get to it on his own yet because our whole house isn't scarlett proofed). He sat there for about 2 seconds and said he didn't need to go. I knew he needed to go, so I encouraged and finally told him he had to sit there for a while. He finally pooped and got to play with his trains as a reward. An hour or so later he told me he didn't have poop in his underwear. That meant he did. I reminded him that he should always tell me so he could put his poop in the potty. A little later he told me that Scarlett needed to poop and I should put her on the potty. She was in fact working on a nice messy diaper for me, but that's beside the point - the boy needs to worry about when he needs to potty, not when she needs to! About that time I realized he had pooped in his undies again. ARGH! So today he's in a diaper for naptime and he wasn't happy about it. I told him if he had accidents during the day he couldn't wear his underwear for naptime, so we'll see how that works.

So I bragged too soon, and it's driving me crazy that he just doesn't want to poop in the potty. Really why would you want to sit in that shit? (literally) I'm trying to be patient, and remind myself that it's been remarkably easy until today, but patience is not one of my virtues.

Enough potty talk, later I'll try to be more interesting.