Monday, June 7, 2010

Home Sweet Home

The kids are good travelers. We thought we were going to have a long lay over in Anchorage, but we managed to get on an earlier flight out. This meant we were scattered all over the plane. Steve sat with Little Guy somewhere in the middle and Brianna sat with Missy on the very last two seats of the aircraft - right by the potty. Perfect, just perfect. She used the bathroom 50 million times on the flight as a way to get out of her seat, but it was fine. Her brother wore a pull-up. Otherwise we would have had to change his clothes over and over and we were plain out of pants. We arrived home at 1 AM. The twins were more than excited to be home.

I announced to Missy that she has done so well on the trip that she will NEVER again wear a  pull-up  to bed. She is very proud of herself!!

We had some resistance to going to the bathroom today, but I decided to not do the scheduled sit to see what would happen. The kids were tired, their body clocks are off because of the time change and the meals were weird yesterday. Little Guy was miserable; Just miserable. He was on edge because he  was so worried someone would say he HAD to go. He wasn't grumpy - just couldn't relax and play normal. I finally talked him into trying before supper. He was willing, but the willingness flew out the window pretty quick so I let him off. He couldn't even relax to eat well.... I could just see this battle raging on his face.... finally after dancing around and running away and hiding a few times he shouted, "Mom!! I have to go poop!!!!!!!"

And he did. He called it a snake.  He relaxed and played after that. I hope that he's learning that this is a normal, daily occurrence, not a MOM forced operation.

My husband and I are in discussion as what the next step is. At what point do we work towards independence in this? When do we decide that he's understanding the urge and leave his body to plan it's own timing? It's complicated, but I don't want to be the gestapo and dictate his body functions.... It's been a few weeks since he's had an accident so I'm wondering how to back off. By the way, today he kept his pants dry for the first time in eons.... I think it made an impression on him that he had to wear a pull up on the plane and sister did not and that she won't ever have to wear one again.

We worked in the yard and gardens and Missy was our water carrier. She checked out all her pets and critters and was mostly happy. She only became naughty when I decided she had to go poop before the day was over. I didn't deal with it.... I left her with one of the girls and I went outside to work. I guess she finally did her job. How are we ever going to get past making this such a song and dance? We are so ready to move on from battles in the bathroom. The resistance and the fury over having to use the toilet is mostly aimed at me - the MOM. Even if someone else is working with her on  it the anger is still pointed at me for having made the decisions that effect her. I am a no nonsense kind of mom. I can make things fun and I can entertain and distract to a certain degree... but I have not the right personality to make each and every bathroom visit into a full blow theatrical display. For Pete's sake, just go poop and let's get out of here!

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