Tales from the Potty

Potty training clearly takes up a lot of our time and focus as parents lately. In the interest of those who do not wish to read such "tales," I will attempt to include the word "Potty" in every title so that you may choose to skip over them if you wish, because somewhat vulgar children's potty language always follows.

Here are the fun comments that we've heard this week . . .

"Onnor no sit down!" He's finally discovered the joy of peeing while standing up. We're still working a little on the aim.

"No poot in the pants! Poot on the potty!" He has the concept down in theory, but not in practice, unfortunately. He's doing extremely well with going "pee-pee in the potty" but not so much with the other. And I'm not sure when it became "poot" instead of poo-poo, but the change has been made and there appears to be no going back, despite Mommy's best efforts.

"Onnor yucky!" he says, waddling towards me. This is never a good sign.

"Ouchie. No touch it! Hurts!" he says, as you attempt to clean him up after an "accident" has occurred.

"Yucky poot." he says, watching as Mommy washes out the rather disgusting big boy underwear yet again. "No poot in the pants!"

If only that were the case . . . most of the stuff that I've read has told me that I face several obstacles, as boys are typically slower to potty train and since he is my first attempt I'm having to train myself as much as I am him. Here's hoping we both improve in the near future, and that it will be easier the second (and third) time around with his brothers.

Co-Sleeping

As infants, they slept side by side in the same crib until they were about four months old because they never moved and they seemed most content when they were close (and, as our house only had two bedrooms upstairs and big brother occupied the other one, they were in a single crib in our bedroom). Later they were moved into separate cribs, though still in the same room.

When they too, as big brother before them, started climbing in their cribs, they were moved well before their second birthday into big boy beds. The bed rails have long been gone, but one thing remains. Despite having two full-size beds in their shared room, they can always be found sleeping side by side, sometimes tangled up with each other, sometimes on opposite ends, but always in the same bed.

Of late, Sawyer has been perching himself on the pillows we wedge under the headboard, where they used to find themselves getting stuck fairly often. He seems to like the raised platform the pillows make. Xander usually likes the footboard end of the bed, but wanders all over it depending on the night. Neither, apparently, like the other bed.

Brotherly Love

Brotherly love, or something like that. The two little guys were enjoying trains again today (Connor is out with Daddy, helping to spring clean the yard at Great Grandma JoAnn's house with the rest of the Elam side of the family).

How quickly it all broke down into fighting and tears. There simply are not enough Thomas trains to go around - they each want them all for themselves and cannot stand to share! Here, Xander (hand on the right) is holding Gordon rather carelessly, while Sawyer (hand on the left) is attempting to steal him.

Crying and screaming ensued. The trains are now safely back in Connor's room, Sawyer is stacking blocks in the window, Xander is playing with Little People, and all is well in the world again, at least for now.

Snapshot Sunday

Connor is very proud of his new "big boy" Thomas the Tank underwear. Here, he is attempting to point out James, who is on his butt. Nice.

Return of the Nap (and Mommy's Sanity)

After my first real weekend away from my children, where Josh kept the boys at the house, he told me that he had let them stay up all weekend without naps and that they had done just fine. I'm not sure what constitutes "fine" for him, but the weeks that have followed have not been "fine" to me.

Our boys are outgrowing their need for long afternoon naps, I will grant you. The twins once slept nearly 14 hours at night and usually took a 3 hour nap during the day as well. Those days are indeed gone. But we have yet to reach the point where they can stay awake from morning until night without ill effects. Even Connor needs an occasional nap, though certainly not every day unless you want him to stay awake until well past midnight. But no naps for anyone was turning into a big disaster.

You know . . . the excessive whining that lasts for the last three hours the kids are awake. Or doing things like falling asleep standing up at the pool table or even sitting down at the dinner table. Or the extreme irritability where every little affront turns into a major meltdown. These are the days when my three toddlers don't take naps.

So, we are still working on our "schedule," trying to figure out something that works for everyone. Mommy likes to sleep in, but has conceded sleeping in until 9 or 9:30 a.m. may be too much, especially in light of the oldest attempting to potty train. She is working toward an 8 to 8:30 wake-up time, which seems to be in line with Connor's internal clock. The twins are still like Mommy, laying in bed until after 9 doesn't bother them, but then they fight taking a nap until almost four, when you absolutely don't want to put them down (unless you like to be awake all night). So I figure if I get them up just a little earlier, then I can put them down for a short nap just after lunch and then have them in bed by 9 p.m.

This is what we're trying right now. But as with most parenting issues, it's absolutely a work in progress.