A Catch 22

I want to get the boys big kid beds. I think it would make bedtime and nap time easier, because they would feel like they're going to bed, and not to jail. I also think it would make toilet training easier, because they could get up on their own and use the toilet, rather than waiting for me to get them out of their crib. David sort of agrees, but doesn't want to get them real beds until they're toilet trained, mostly because of what we've seen them do to their cribs.

For example, we've had quite a time trying to get them to keep their diapers on at nap time. We've tried safety-pinning their shirts to their pants. Drew just got poked in the belly. We tried duct tape. They rip through it unless it's wrapped around 5 times. I can't decide if it's more economical to wash the sheets every day (there's always other laundry to throw 'em in with; it's not like I'm washing just sheets) or buy a roll of duct tape every two or three days. The duct tape is probably more environmentally friendly. Maybe... In any case, the diapers come off and the beds get wet and sometimes poopy.*

I think I'm going to put my foot down and tell David let's just get them some beds and some plastic sheets. I don't see that the plastic sheets will be that horrible to sleep on considering they're used to sleeping on their plastic crib mattresses (sometimes, after they take off their diapers--or maybe before--they take the sheets off their beds and sleep on the plastic). Anyway, we can always cover the plastic sheets with cloth sheets.

Yesterday was a day of diaper removal. Twice. I had been reading a book while the boys were "napping," and I heard them giggling in that special way that means they're up to no good. I went in there and told them to shape up. They had their diapers off and the sheets nice and wet so I changed the sheets and put the diapers back on. I went back out to read some more. I heard the giggling again, so I went in again. I put the diapers back on. Again. At least they hadn't emptied their bladders on the sheets again. I don't think they ever went to sleep; I just eventually let them out to play, at which point they said, "We had a good nap, Mom!" I'm sure.

The boys did use the toilet on their own yesterday. Just once. We were hanging out in the living room and suddenly Drew was gone. I found him in the bathroom, naked from the waist down, "making bubbles." Owen followed us in and wanted a turn, too. So they both took a few turns using the toilet. I wonder if they forget that they just went and when they see their brother going, they think, "I need to go, too." That's fine with me. I'm sure I can think of a way to use the competition to my advantage.

*We had a "smell mystery" that I just solved a couple days ago. (I'm posting this on here rather than my other blog because it involves bodily functions.) I went into the boys room to get them up from their naps and they both had their diapers off and were sleeping in a puddle. On top of that, Owen was sleeping next to a little lump of something. I cleaned everything up, but the room just kept stinking and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I asked Owen, rather rhetorically, where the smell might be coming from. He pointed to the wall by his crib, which I discovered, upon closer look, was "painted" with some of the lump that Owen had been sleeping next to. It had blended in because the wall in question is a rather dark maroon-ish-brown color. I cleaned that all up, but the room still stunk. I thought it was just from changing diapers because it wasn't really a constant smell. It seemed to come and go. Then, two days ago, the boys and the neighbor kids decided to play "mail truck" in the boys' closet. I don't know how they decided that the closet looks like a mail truck, but apparently it does. They threw a bunch of clothes and papers out of it, and there on the floor was a pile of "Merle presents." I guess he had been either locked in the boys' room or locked out of the cat box. Or maybe he was seeking revenge for some offence Drew or Owen put upon him. Who knows? The "gifts" were from two separate occasions, and I can't believe I didn't find them sooner. Every time I sniffed around the closet, the smell seemed to disappear. And I guess I didn't move enough stuff around to uncover the surprise myself. So I thought it was coming from elsewhere in the room. But there it all was. After cleaning it all up, the boys' room smells much, much better.