Wednesday, July 4, 2012

This Is A Potty Post

See, you've been warned if you don't want to hear about all things potty.  If you want to make sure you don't get stuck with a mental image of small children trying to understand why they're being asked to sit naked on a small plastic seat with a big hole in it, then you should just move on to tomorrow's post, provided tomorrow has arrived and I've gotten round to posting.

My daughter continues to excel at potty time.  In fact, if you take her diaper off and don't take her to the potty now, you're liable to need to change a wet changing mat in short order.  At less than eight months, I don't know that she is making a decision to go or if she just has an association with diaper removal and being sat on the potty.

My son, however, has a whole different outlook on the potty.  He likes the potty.  He likes to look at books on the potty, and he is very fond of "checking himself out" on the potty and sticking his hand into the potty between his legs to see if anything has happened.   So perhaps it's a good thing that he's not been that successful in making "deposits" at this point.

He has had some success, going to the bathroom in the bathroom.  But he likes to be standing up.  This puts me in a heightened state of awareness when he stands up from the potty to go and get another book because is he getting a book, or is he heading off to the corner to go?

He likes to take the insert out of the potty and dump it into the toilet.  He's seen this done a lot with his sister and he is interested in the whole process.  Last night, I saw him straining and decided it was a great time to wait it out with him with the door shut in the bathroom.

Pants off, he complained about sitting on the potty because all of his productions require standing up and arching his back.  I got him down several times and somewhat interested in a book.  He stood up in a bit, and took the book with him.  Just a bit later he put the book down, picked up the potty insert and tried to dump it.  I explained that it was empty.  Then I realized that it wasn't empty to him as he had just peed on the floor while looking at the book standing up.  Do I count that as a partial victory?

After that the straining continued and I kept forcing him to sit down.  It's so hard to explain how this will be easier in a different position that facilitates passing solids to a child with a very limited vocabulary at eighteen months old. 

In the end, we were successful.  I think he was pleased he got something into the potty.  We dumped and flushed together.  And then he flushed two more times because flushing is fun.  But did the message get across that going on the potty is a good thing?  We shall see.

The Big Boy Update: Fourth of July fun.  He's in the back yard now talking with daddy, Nana and Grandpa about the possibility of a swing set/play area for when he's older.  I wonder what he's going to talk them into?

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Where did this whine come from?  She has been whiny the last few days.  Usually it's food, or messy diaper, but she's needed to be soothed with a pacifier lately.  And then she's serenely happy.  Maybe it's teeth coming in. 

Running Update:  Four on the Fourth race.  My first race.  I didn't know how big these races were.  There were 900 people racing and it was more fun and more challenging than I anticipated.  Running with other people helps to push you.  I ran my fastest mile ever and the best time I've ever done on four miles at a bit over 39 minutes.  I'm glad my mother-in-law insisted she come along because she got pictures of my friend and me before and after the race.  So much fun.

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