Takin' It Easy, But Still Takin' It...

I get burned out so easily. With lots of things.

I was working part time cleaning apartments for some friends, and even though I enjoyed the money, I did a couple two hour jobs and one five hour stint (it was a horribly messy apartment) over the course of like, a week, and now I never want to go back.

I get on a kick and clean my entire house top to bottom in one day, and then I don't want to touch it for five days, so by the time I feel like cleaning it again, it takes one day of cleaning from top to bottom again.

I started toilet training the boys on Monday, acting all enthusiastic and trying to be consistent. By Tuesday, I'd had enough and now, four days later, I haven't done much of anything with toilet training.

Are we sensing a pattern here? I'm learning that the key to everything (including toilet training)is in moderation. I just thought of a scripture that applies to toilet training (scriptures really are universal!): And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. (Mosiah 4:27) This scripture actually applies to just about everything, and it pops into my mind in so many different situations.

I appreciated Kadee's comment from the other day; a couple hours a day for a week sounds like something we can definitely start with. I think we'll do our toilet training in the mornings--that's when we're most relaxed since we usually have no where to be. Also, that's when the boys do most of their playing (that's when we have the neighbor kids over), and I'd like to help them realize that they can interrupt play time to use the toilet for a minute or two, and that life (and play time) still goes on.

Drew and Owen definitely have no problems interrupting bed time to use the toilet (when I tell them it's time for bed, they yell, "NO! It's not time to bed! I have to ooze [Owenese for "use"] the toilet!" Then they run into the bathroom to "make bubbles." It cracks me up how they stand on the stool in front of the toilet, hold their little (okay, big) bellies and grunt. Unnnggg! 'Cause like my track coach always said, "Grunting improves performance."

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.

Our First Minor Setback

We started out all enthusiastic with this toilet training stuff yesterday. Today, we're not as enthusiastic. I think there are a few things factoring in:

*I'm tired. I had to get up early today to watch the neighbor kids while their mom is at class. It wouldn't be so bad, except I'm still having a hard time going to sleep early, and I don't sleep well once I am asleep. So I don't really feel like pressing the issue today.

*The boys are tired. They get up early when the neighbor kids come over, too, because the kids are loud and the boys are so excited to play.

*The boys would rather play with the neighbor kids than use the toilet. Drew screamed and wailed all the way into the bathroom. He refused to remove his britches so I did it for him. He tucked up his legs and refused to stand on the stool. Okay, he can pee sitting down. Lots of boys prefer it, so I hear. But when I put him on the toilet, he shimmied right off and tried to run. I figure since his diaper was already slightly wet, he probably wouldn't go much anyway (if at all) so I just let him go get dressed.

We'll try some more after nap time, I guess. I decided that the reminder monkey I used yesterday was a bit excessive and maybe a little stressful. I mean, every twenty minutes? No kid pees that much. It did cause me to be aware, though, of how often the boys actually do pee, which is more like every hour and a half. At the most. So I might set the reminder monkey and just ignore two out of every three times it sings, "Time to Go Potty!" and have the boys try to use the toilet every hour.

Not Ashamed To Use Bribery

Today is our first hard-core day of toilet training. I'm employing a few different tactics to get through it:

*The in-laws gave us a toilet training kit (I'm sure they just meant to help, but I still feel like, What are you trying to say?). It comes with a little hippo that the boys get to push its belly after they use the toilet. It says things like, "You're a potty pro!" and, "Fantastic flushing!" and, "You're a clean, mean, bathroom machine!" The boys love it. I like it because it offers an immediate reward and positive reinforcements on top of the praise I give them.

*The kit also came with a reminder monkey that says "Time to use the potty!" every 20 minutes. It's so annoying and it interrupts everything (like typing this post), but it helps us stay on top of things and give the boys a chance to use the toilet before they use their diaper.

*I made a reward chart that the boys can color when they poop in the toilet (I got the idea from Lura, who got her boy a train after he went so many times--how many times did he have to go to get the train, Lura?). The reward we'll start out with is a trip to the ice cream shop with Grandpa. After the boys poop in the toilet seven times and color in the cone, then they can go with Grandpa for ice cream.

When we first started talking about what we get to do when we use the toilet, the boys said they wanted to ride in Grandpa's Corvette. I didn't think that would work because a) Drew is afraid of it and when the time came to get in he'd probably throw a tantrum, and b) there is no backseat in the Corvette, thus nowhere for the carseats to go. But we had fun talking about riding in the Corvette anyway. The conversation went like this:

Drew: I want to ride the Corvette!

Mom: What do you have to do to ride in the Corvette?

Drew: I have to...um...pee in the toilet!

Mom: That's right! But maybe instead of the Corvette, you could go get ice cream with Grandpa.

Owen: I want to get ice cream Grandpa!

Mom: What do you have to do?

Owen: I dunno!

Drew: I have to pee in the Corvette!

Owen: You don't pee in the truck, Drew!

Random!

Here We Go!

I'm starting this blog for a couple reasons:
*I want to document my kids' toilet training (there are a couple reasons behind this, too: *Various relatives seem to think that toilet training is just really easy and that their kids were toilet trained as soon as they could walk, and that our kids are just slow and we're not trying hard enough. *This will serve as a record of what it's really like for our family. *I can look back on it when my grand kids are being toilet trained and remind myself not to make comments about what my kids should and shouldn't do because every kid is different, and toilet training really is that stressful sometimes.)
*There are probably people who enjoy my other blog, but don't really want to hear all about poop and pee and all the other stuff associated with toilets and toddlers. But there might be readers who are in (or have recently gotten out--lucky!) the same boat as we are and could use some reassurance or share tips or whatever.

If everything goes well, this blog will be short-lived, but will start up again in a year or two when it's Samantha's turn. Wish us luck!