In a last ditch effort to get the kids to use the potty, I promised that I would give them marshmallows and a special toy (or coveted book) to play with, whenever they went on the potty and threatened that I would take away their most beloved possessions on this planet, their loveys, if they continued to go poop in their diapers and/or underwear.Because, come on!!
They know how to use it, right?!
Elizabeth, being the most incredibly defiant three-year-old in the entire universe said "OK, Bye-Bye bunny!!" before pushing out a gargantuan poop in her nighttime diaper. She went to bed with out so much as a tear and instead was snickering at me. (This from a child that was completely day potty-trained for a solid two months.) I could actually see the wheels turning in her mutinous toddler head "Yeah good luck old lady. You are NEVER going to make me do something I don't want to do. Bwahahahaha!!!"
Elizabeth woke up at 4:11 AM, screaming for her bunny.
In doing this, she woke up Carolyn who pooped. And because my little Gracie is anything but rebellious, she collapsed in to the worst state of despair over losing her deety. With tears running down her face, she kept repeating "I so sad!! My deety all gone, now!!"
William woke up - and after walking around confused - threw a fit that he couldn't eat the marshmallows I had left on the kitchen counter.
The ruckus woke up Henry who remained awake for the next two hours and proceeded to pull out all of the hair in my temple region, while he squirmed around next to me in bed and I desperately tried to shove a nipple in his mouth - if for no other reason to keep him quiet so I could sleep.
I have now resigned myself to the fact that our children will be in diapers until we are in diapers. Which might be very soon, because we are aging at an alarming rate.
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The BOB truly is the most awesome stroller. I'll bet nobody is getting their money out of this product like we are.I recently discovered that the top makes a great cot. I don't think that the stroller was designed to hold a 36-pound child on it's sunshade per se, but I did a safety analysis and determined that the risk associated with hiking in the dark was greater then taking a chance that the top of the stroller would break. I certainly wasn't going to trust my aging body to piggy-back a kid out, while pushing three other kids in a stroller.
You know, I never considered that my body was "aging" until I talked to my mom last week and she told me that at almost 37, I'm no longer a spring chicken. Ever since we had that conversation, I'm convinced my right knee is going out. So no more Joe-Joe's and no more ice cream (after I finish the 1/2 gallon of chocolate in the freezer that I've been hand churning organic peanut butter in to). I've got to get to the gym. At the rate I'm going, I fear I'll be wearing Depends and walking with a cane come spring.
Although, that may be an excellent way to test my theory on the children being potty trained.
Keep it up! You'll find something that they really don't want to give up. After they go potty, give it right back to them - instant gratification... It works with Shayna!
ReplyDeleteBah. And there's me thinking that I'll leave the potty training of my 2.5yr old til he's 'ready' (ie 3) because he will be less of an obstreperous challenge.
ReplyDeleteUh-uh. Wrong. I'll just go bury my head back in the sand...
Good luck ;)
We love our BOB duallie as well...however I have never tried the canopy trick. Smart thinking!
ReplyDeleteI used the canopy on our double stroller just like that!
ReplyDeleteJen, Austin is pooping in his underwear every single afternoon now. He told he's "scary" of the potty. He WILL NOT let me put him in a Pull-Up. I tried. Believe me. He's only 2.5. Like I really care if he's potty trained. There's only one of him. So now he's got like 2 pair of underwear left. Perhaps having no underwear will work??????? Maybe??????
Good luck on your end! I'm knee-deep with only one over here!
I am here from Carolyn's faithfully reading and have held back on commenting about the potty training. I have only trained one child, at 33 months, and she was pretty easy (but I do have 15 month old twins in the pipeline). But I feel I ought to share this tip from my shrewd and seasoned mother who raised 4 kids. My daughter was doing pretty well until she too got defiant, and started refusing. My mother looked me straight in the eye and said - the next time she expresses interest in going, tell her nicely, "sorry sweetie, we aren't going to use the potty anymore, remember how you didn't want to go last time, well it's over and we are NEVER going to use it again".
ReplyDeleteI only had to say this one time. After an hour or so I "gave in" and "let her go just this once" and never got another refusal. She really seemed to feel like she was getting HER way everytime she went.
Risky, yes. Maybe just keep it in the back of your mind. Feel free to modify as needed - maybe it's "never going to use at bedtime again". This year, from age 3-4 is killing me too:)
We are right there with you in the potty training department sister... definitely feeling like I may have the only kid in highschool still wearing diapers. I wonder if we could get some kind of discount from Pampers by that point.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I would never have thought of that with my BOB. I am most certainly going to try it at the earliest opportunity. My BOB is an obnoxious yellow and every time I see your classic blue one I am jealous.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the potty training. Not going well here either. Everyone tells me that no child EVER goes to school in diapers..... Mine might be the first though.
Kathy
It sounds like this is an area where the kids have figured out that A) they can exert control and B) they can really push your buttons.
ReplyDeleteThe things that worked great for us were 1) Leaving the boys naked from the waist down as often as possible. 2) taking the boys to the bathroom on a schedule, whether they needed to or not (we did this for a long time) and 3) taking as much emotion out of the equation as we could. We celebrated (and gave them a sticker if they asked), but accidents were met with nothing but "next time you need to go pee/ poop in the potty, let's change your clothes" No getting angry, no threats, no taking away anything, just as matter of fact as possible. Finally, ditching the pull-ups except for bedtime was a big key.
Also, it was a much longer process than I realized. Now 7 months into it, both boys will go to the bathroom on their own reliably without us asking, can make it all night etc... But there were A LOT of accidents, and I still carry a change of clothes for both boys all the time.