Underpants

You've been wondering but were too shy to ask; or maybe you've been busy and didn't realized how much time had passed.  But either way, I know you've been desperately awaiting a potty update.  How is it going?  Are they making progress?  What color underpants does he like the best and what books does she like the most during her private potty time?

I haven't forgotten you folks, honest.  I was just waiting for something other than, "We're still plugging away with minimal successes other than drenching underwear and pants and other sundry household items, and I don't wanna talk about it yet."  But yes, there has been a breakthrough, or maybe I'd say a slow, daybreak dawning on a cloudy, humid day kind-of thing instead of a real breakthrough.  And by that I mean it was slow going for a good while.

My son now wears underwear--not the training pants padded kind and not the pullups that are really just thinner diapers without tabs--every day.  He is dry most of the time.  He knows how to pull his pants and underpants down and he knows how to go both ways in the potty.  He is particularly proud of himself when he goes the second way, and he likes to run out and tell us.  And we don't mind that one bit.

He is not good at managing his time and making sure he gets to the potty on a regular basis.  We have to remind him, "it's your turn to go to the potty" often.  Although he's gotten over resisting going and even likes, I think, to stay dry.

My daughter has successes that add up to failure most of the time.  She will go if you put her on the potty, but she doesn't have the skills to take off her pants and underpants yet and she definitely can't get off a diaper.  She seems to want to go and has an idea that she needs to go because she is regularly going over to the potty, sitting on it, getting a book, getting up in a few minutes and going over empty-handed to flush the big toilet.  We think it's at these times that she's going in her diaper.

So hey, let's let her run around the house in easy-to-remove underwear.  Surely she'll keep up this good work now that she has easier access.  But no, that's a tried and confirmed recipe for five underpants changes within two hours and not one success at the potty.   So we have compromised.  We have her in diapers a lot of the time, but we still sit her on the potty and things do happen when we do so.  We've decided she's not ready to move into the true "training" portion of potty training quite yet.

And underpants, let me not forget to mention we got a smattering of exciting packs with pictures of Disney characters and the Pixar movie characters.  It's fun to see which pair they each pick out to wear.

The Big Boy Update:  Self-dresser?  We put him to bed for a nap.  He had a hard time settling but eventually got to sleep.  When we got him up, we realized he had changed underwear.  He had taken his pants and underpants (dry) off, selected a different pair of underwear, managed to get them on albeit backwards, and then get his pants back on before falling to sleep.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Mad dash runner.  We were helping out a friend as she volunteered at the marathon across the street in the park earlier today.  My daughter was so excited watching all the runners go by.  When the field was cleared, we'd let her out onto the path and she'd run after the last runner waving her hands in the air and giggling.

Fitness Update:  Double Calorie Day.  It's my neighbor's birthday today (and my sister-in-law's too, Happy Birthday Adrienne!)  My neighbor asked if her parents could watch her four girls so she and I could do a long run.  I don't think we've run a half-marathon distance since we did our race in November.  It was particularly interesting as the park we run in was hosting a full marathon today as well.  We ran earlier than that marathon started and she had to head back before we made the full distance, but I kept running and ended up back at the house at fourteen miles.  My heart-rate monitor said I burned over seventeen hundred calories during the run, which is about what I'd burn in a normal day.  So it's double eating for me today.  And this is good news as we're hosting a party tonight and are having some of my favorite food catered.

Someone Once Said:  If I sell a horse I won’t guarantee that it has a leg on each corner; the buyer must count them for himself.