TMI .... A Morning in the Life Of ...

I heard the kids talking and playing in their room around 6:45. As soon as I know they are awake I like to send them to the bathroom to remove their nighttime diapers and to put on their underwear. I was a little surprised to find that Missy's diaper was soiled a bit already. It could only mean one thing - that she needed to "go", so, even though it was out of our routine I asked her to sit. Of course, being out of routine is "not acceptable" but, I hung tough and she had no choice but to abide. Vanessa came to the rescue with a little table and some Polly pocket toys and she even sat down and played with her for a bit. We are trying to stimulate imagination and conversation through this kind of play.  It's town day. Vanessa couldn't play forever, so she left her to play by herself eventually. She was not happy about that and broke both arms off of one of the dolls and I proceeded to remove the toys which started the howling. I offered her drinks and told her she could not get off until she could produce. Finally she did; two rabbit pellets.

Meanwhile, brother was well into the morning routine of quiet time on the couch while breakfast was being made. We were out of bread so I was a bit concerned about making sure the kiddos had enough to eat to hold them for awhile.  I did not restrict anything and Little Miss launched herself into a good tummy ache. Live and learn....

Directly after breakfast I sent both kids to go potty and I was already two steps behind. Both had begun to soil their pants. There was a whole lot of screaming and crying and I quickly removed any and all objects within arm's reach of the toilet. I must have missed the plastic cup in Buster's bathroom because it went sailing through the air and hit the door just as I closed it.  My response was instant. We will not allow throwing, kicking or banging with the fists.

The house was in a whirlwind of three girls preparing to leave for classes and two kids on the commodes screaming. I was grateful a friend had called and offered to drive the girls so I wouldn't have to leave so early. Her daughter takes the same classes as my girls. Once the girls left, I concentrated on the two who were calming down a bit.

It's hard. You can't force someone to go poop. You can't force yourself to go poop if your body isn't ready, but I've been at this for 8 solid weeks. I KNEW they both needed to go or they wouldn't be soiling every little while. One can't poop when uptight and screaming, either. I was prepared to WAIT!!! And wait we did. I offered plenty of liquids and balloons and talked and cajoled and encouraged forever. They gave a marble or two. Finally I told them to work on it while I got the laundry going.  I folded three dryer loads piling up to the ceiling and finally they produced enough to say they had tried and I showered them, had them dress and make their beds and prepared to leave for town. It was 11 AM.  We were already late. Where did the morning go?

Ummmm..... wait a second. What's that smell?

You have got to be kidding!

Groan. BOTH. They both had soiled their pants in the time it takes to make a bed. We'd wasted the whole morning trying to avoid this and here we were at square one.

Accompanied by tantrums we started all over again. I got right in Buster's face - made him look in my eye and I asked, "Are you mad at me?"

"YES!"

" I didn't poop in your pants, did I?"

"No".

"Who did?"

"Me".

"So why are you mad at me?"

"I donno....."

The steam was gone. And I told both children that there was no use bawling it wouldn't change a thing. We wouldn't be going to town until they drank their water and pooped a BIG one.

I hastened to clean the house and me-oh-my it surely needed it. Obviously, I couldn't stray far from the bathrooms so there's this obvious line of how far I could go... the rest is disastrous.

Missy started her usual, "Mommy, I done!" cycle which repeats every three seconds. I came back and told her that I would not be answering because we would not be done until she drank her water and pooped. Amazingly she quit and all was quiet as I vacuumed.  It helped to do something loud :-) I can only sit in the bathroom encouraging for so long. They were not willing to try and so, I left them to themselves for awhile saying, "The Lord was good to me today and gave me lots of time, so we aren't going anywhere until we are through...."

A few minutes later the house began to stink and I knew the battle was over. BOTH children had finally given up the control and pooped the leg of a chair. We cleaned up and re-dressed and buckled up in the car.

It was noon.