These past two weeks have been an interesting time as together as a family we've weathered an ear infection for William, my simultaneous sinus infection, a trip to the hospital with possible labor pains, and a very tired, crampy, grumpy me. But in that time, I've had the opportunity to witness some fun, new and CARING phrases from my son. The kind that make you think you might not totally be screwing up this parent thing after all.
Now before you get all congratulatory, let me assure you I still possess your average, if not sassier-than-average (much to my mother's joy) 2 1/2 year old. He has been known to recently utter such winners as:
"get out Daddy, this is my room, NOT your room!"
"No, this is my house!" (response to Mike's response to above phrase, which was, well this may be YOUR room, but it's MY house)
"Mommy, you are NOT my buddy anymore!"
However, he has at least rewarded us with some sweet, caring phrases as well.
Lately, the most popular one has been, "Mommy... you feel better?" Granted, sometimes this is asked because if I say yes he can ask his follow up, "you wanna pick me up?" This is because I've told him that the doctor says I cannot pick him up yet. However, many times this past couple weeks... it has been out of genuine concern. As we suffered together through our sinus/ear infection he often asked me that. After a particularly bad night of cramping, he planted a kiss on my head "to make it all better" and followed up with "mommy... you feel better now?" After a bad morning where I took a LONG nap after breakfast, he wandered in to wake me, gave me a kiss and asked "mommy... you feel better?" Man, break my heart, kid.
Another cute phrase lately? "You okay?" I heard this the other night as he and his daddy wrestled. Daddy did one of his better acting jobs and fell to the ground and remained laying there. At which point, William walks up and pats his daddy asking, "You okay?" Mike and I died. He also asked it of the dog recently when he accidentally stepped on her tail and of me recently after I kind of yelped during a doctor's appointment. (He also inquired of the doctor, "Did you hurt my mommy?"... the doc thought it was hysterical).
One of the best phrases we are enjoying now... particularly because he'll ask it of anyone, even complete strangers, is "How's your day?". I witnessed this the first time when I had to bring him with me during my doctor's appointment to assess my sinus infection. The doc walked in and said hello to us both at which point William answers with, "Hi! How's your day?" The doc, completely amused looks at me and says "did he just ask..." and I nodded. William asks again, head cocked to the side, all attention and waiting as though truly interested. The doc says, "uh great, how's yours?" to which William replies, "Oh, I'm just cool." Holy crap... who is this kid?
A week or so later, he comes with me on my OB visit and we tell him to say "hi Dr. B" and explain to him that Dr. B's face is the first he ever saw. William looks up at him and after saying, "Hi Dr. B!" follows with, "How's your day?" Dr B. finds this very funny and spits out a "great! how's yours?" William seems to consider it a moment before replying "oh, good, good. I'm just playing with a school bus" (the toy he had in his hand).
Now Mike and I are noticing that he loves to ask this question of anyone who comes to the house. His aunts and uncles, our friends, the Starbucks employees, etc. He's just running around asking everyone how their day is. People think he's infinitely polite and Mike and I are just enjoying the looks that phrase generates when it comes from such a little person.
The last caring phrase he's been uttering recently, "let's be friends" or "you wanna be my friend?" Apparently, this is the phrase that follows all apologies and time-outs at day-care or something. Because he often utters it after a time out. He'll come to us, give us a hug, say sorry and then say "okay... let's be friends now". Also, I was watching him play with his Star Wars action figures and after Boba Fett gave a Storm Trooper a spectacularly violent beat-down, William must have decided it was enough. Because then I hear him say, as though he were Boba Fett, "come on Trooper, let's be friends. wanna play with me?" and he has his Storm Trooper answer, "yeah, yeah. it's cool. let's be friends." And finally, last night, as I was lying there in his bed after reading his bedtime story, in too much pain to move... he rolls over and puts his little hand on my face and says, "mommy you want to be my friend?" and when I say yes, he follows with "you okay, you want to just lie down a little while with me?" I tell him that mommy is hurting and I would love to just keep lying down with him. He looks at me for a little bit, pulls my blanket up closer to my face for me and says, "okay, you can sleep with me if you want."
Oh man, does it get any sweeter than that?
The beginning of my foray into motherhood and a record of the love and torture a son can bring to a mother...
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
He's Potty Trained!...Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Yes kids, my son is potty trained. Let me write that again, I'm so excited. My son is potty trained. Hell, one more time... my son is potty trained.
How did this happen, you ask? Just a couple posts ago I was bemoaning our potty woes and here I am enjoying the victory that we recently snatched from the jaws of defeat. Let me tell you folks, TRAINING PANTS. Yes kids, these are the secret. Don't mess around with those freakin' Pull Ups with their cute commercials and that annoying "I'm a big kid now" song. No... they are too much like diapers. I am talking good, old fashioned, extra padded, cotton training pants. With these cheap little wonders (you can order them in packs of 5 off of Amazon), we had our little potty monster converted into a potty angel in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS!
Now, before you pat myself or Mike on the back, let me be honest about the fact that our beloved day care provider, Debbey, gets much of the credit. You see, she has 25 years of experience and kids, if you have someone like that at your disposal, LISTEN to what they say.
Not long after my desperate potty post, Deb sat us down for her "potty" talk for inexperienced parents. Keep in mind this wizard of childcare had pre-empted this MONTHS ago by giving us "The Potty Book" to read to William daily. Plus, apparently, we were accidental geniuses by buying the potty so early because she said that played a huge part in ridding him of any potty fears. So anyway, "The Potty Talk". She sat us down and told us to buy 9-10 pairs of training pants (I bought 15 because I'm always over-prepared). She said they had to be just plain cotton, somewhat large (so he could pull them up & down himself) and they would be extra padded in the crotch area. No pull-ups, nothing resembling a diaper or anything disposable. Then she said put them on him in the morning and don't put any pants on him so that he wouldn't have to mess with pants in a hurry. Upon giving him any liquid or solid, we were to try putting him on the toilet about 15 minutes later to let him "try". If he didn't go, we would need to try again in another 5-10 minutes. We were also to pat the front of them during the longer periods between potties and meals and say, "yay! you're dry!", not freak out about any accidents (merely note the time and put him on earlier) and praise every successful potty attempt.
Two weeks ago we started. We dropped him at Deb's in the morning wearing his new "undies" (took his pants off) and gave her 6 clean pairs for him to go through that day. When we picked him up he'd had 4 accidents at Deb's and 3 successful potties. That night at home with us, we had 1 more accident and one more successful potty. Day 2 there were only 3 accidents, Day 4 there were only 2 and after that, just one a day. By day 7, there were zero accidents. The whole second week of the training was at home because he was sick and couldn't go to Deb's. The second week not only did he have zero accidents, but we graduated to not having to ask him or place him on the potty. He merely told us when he was ready and pooped and peed with glee. He even had completely dry diapers each morning when he woke (Deb said do the nighttime last).
So tonight begins the end of it... he's wearing undies in bed to see how he manages tonight. Since his diaper has been dry each morning for a week, I'm feeling rather confident. And proud. Boy am I proud. Deb said it would fly once we bought the training pants and I doubted. I shall never doubt again. Now I have a potty trained boy before my daughter has arrived (Deb's personal goal for us). Mike and I are in shock. We sat there looking at each other two nights ago as we realized he had total control over his potty behavior and laughed. We kept asking each other "is this it? really? he's done!?"
So yes, boys and girls. Potty training happens. Potty training can be good. Now we're just bracing ourselves for the highly possible "regression" that can happen when the next one is born or the "defiant" phase Deb warned about where they decide that they CAN control it, they just don't want to.
Either way... for now, let us enjoy our victory. :)
How did this happen, you ask? Just a couple posts ago I was bemoaning our potty woes and here I am enjoying the victory that we recently snatched from the jaws of defeat. Let me tell you folks, TRAINING PANTS. Yes kids, these are the secret. Don't mess around with those freakin' Pull Ups with their cute commercials and that annoying "I'm a big kid now" song. No... they are too much like diapers. I am talking good, old fashioned, extra padded, cotton training pants. With these cheap little wonders (you can order them in packs of 5 off of Amazon), we had our little potty monster converted into a potty angel in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS!
Now, before you pat myself or Mike on the back, let me be honest about the fact that our beloved day care provider, Debbey, gets much of the credit. You see, she has 25 years of experience and kids, if you have someone like that at your disposal, LISTEN to what they say.
Not long after my desperate potty post, Deb sat us down for her "potty" talk for inexperienced parents. Keep in mind this wizard of childcare had pre-empted this MONTHS ago by giving us "The Potty Book" to read to William daily. Plus, apparently, we were accidental geniuses by buying the potty so early because she said that played a huge part in ridding him of any potty fears. So anyway, "The Potty Talk". She sat us down and told us to buy 9-10 pairs of training pants (I bought 15 because I'm always over-prepared). She said they had to be just plain cotton, somewhat large (so he could pull them up & down himself) and they would be extra padded in the crotch area. No pull-ups, nothing resembling a diaper or anything disposable. Then she said put them on him in the morning and don't put any pants on him so that he wouldn't have to mess with pants in a hurry. Upon giving him any liquid or solid, we were to try putting him on the toilet about 15 minutes later to let him "try". If he didn't go, we would need to try again in another 5-10 minutes. We were also to pat the front of them during the longer periods between potties and meals and say, "yay! you're dry!", not freak out about any accidents (merely note the time and put him on earlier) and praise every successful potty attempt.
Two weeks ago we started. We dropped him at Deb's in the morning wearing his new "undies" (took his pants off) and gave her 6 clean pairs for him to go through that day. When we picked him up he'd had 4 accidents at Deb's and 3 successful potties. That night at home with us, we had 1 more accident and one more successful potty. Day 2 there were only 3 accidents, Day 4 there were only 2 and after that, just one a day. By day 7, there were zero accidents. The whole second week of the training was at home because he was sick and couldn't go to Deb's. The second week not only did he have zero accidents, but we graduated to not having to ask him or place him on the potty. He merely told us when he was ready and pooped and peed with glee. He even had completely dry diapers each morning when he woke (Deb said do the nighttime last).
So tonight begins the end of it... he's wearing undies in bed to see how he manages tonight. Since his diaper has been dry each morning for a week, I'm feeling rather confident. And proud. Boy am I proud. Deb said it would fly once we bought the training pants and I doubted. I shall never doubt again. Now I have a potty trained boy before my daughter has arrived (Deb's personal goal for us). Mike and I are in shock. We sat there looking at each other two nights ago as we realized he had total control over his potty behavior and laughed. We kept asking each other "is this it? really? he's done!?"
So yes, boys and girls. Potty training happens. Potty training can be good. Now we're just bracing ourselves for the highly possible "regression" that can happen when the next one is born or the "defiant" phase Deb warned about where they decide that they CAN control it, they just don't want to.
Either way... for now, let us enjoy our victory. :)