My Husband "Subvet" says that when our first son "Sonshine" was born the sun rose on our world, when our second son "Gator" was born the sun laughed and when our daughter "Sugars" was born all the flowers bloomed. That says it all.

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain."
Anonymous

Your mind is the garden, your
thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds. — William
Wordsworth

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Potty Training 102

OK, here we are halfway through the summer. I had 2 goals for this summer back in May. 1) Get Alligator's fingers OUT OF THAT MOUTH. 2) Potty Train Sonshine. Apparently, God laughed and laughed when I told Him these goals. I've given up on Gator-Boy for now. He started cutting those 2 year molars and it just wasn't worth the fight to tell the truth.

Sonshine, however I am working with. So far he's decided he wants to spend every waking moment in the bathroom, flushing the toilet. I was emailed a video once about a guy's cat who kept flushing the toilet. At the time I wondered just how huge his water bill must be. Now I know. The thing is, not only does Sonshine keep flushing it but so does Alligator. Last night I was on the phone for 15 min. Sonshine was asleep on the couch (it was past bedtime). Alligator-boy spent the ENTIRE 15 minutes running from the chair where he giggled at the cat (who was non-plussed to say the least) to the bathroom where he flushed the toilet. I've tried and tried to teach them to at least wait till the potty stops making noise before flushing again. But they seem to think this is child abuse. So, here's my question to you. We have childproof locks for EVERYTHING. There's one to keep toilet lids shut, there's one to keep the toilet paper from being unrolled. There's one to keep toys out of VCRs. There are even little clips to keep shoes tied. How do you keep the kid from just flushing the toilet over and over and over.....? Fortunately (or not) neither of them have mastered peeing in the potty yet...so we haven't discovered we can flush stuff down the toilet. Once that happens I'm afraid it'll all be over, the battle lost. I might as well just put a pillow in the bathroom and move in.

And what would you call that contraption anyway...a Single Shot Potty?? How to get a Handle on your Toilet Handle?? One Flush at a Time?? The One Flush Wonder??

4 comments:

bigwhitehat said...

I would call it a paddle.

Carole Burant said...

I'm afraid I can't help you there...while raising my two boys and potty training them, I never had trouble with them wanting to flush the toilet all the time so I really don't know what you could do to make them stop. Mine were both potty trained by the time they were 2 years old so I was lucky I guess! lol Hope you can find a solution!! xox

Pen of Jen said...

I was not the best at potty training. My oldest at 3was still in diapers until 2 weeks later and saw the new baby. Then he decided he was a big boy. But he was 3. My middle 2 potty trained eachother 2nd was 25 months and 3rd was 16 months. I did nothing, they just kept taking off each others diapers, so Dad pointed out the bathroom.

4th was so teeny that she could not get on the toilet until she was 3 so I waited for her and she mastered it. Now the reason I did not use a footstool was 2nd and 3rd elevated that high would shoot wonders all over***!!!

As to flushing control it through the top. Have no refill h20 in the tank until they are done and have left the building. The novelty will wear off if they do not see how you refill the tank.

My big problem with my oldest was we had 2 separate sinks, and he played boats in them all day. I think people believed that he suffered from a skin condition!!!

Good luck with the wee ones, I really should say one thing, no matter what any of us say rest in the comfort that they are fine, normal and exactly how they should be. I recall listening to other moms and their tales of perfect children. My younger three are like your 3 years apart. I only have stories of everyone staying alive. Then we counted that as a good day.

MightyMom said...

hahaha. You guys are great!! Thanks for all the input.

BWH, alas, I've worn out my paddle with "Keep both hands where I can see them and back slowly away from baby Sister's swing!!" I'm still searching for a replacement

Pea, if I only had the 2 it'd be much simpler..seems I'm always nursing when Sonshine wants to go potty. Of course, my whole life would be simpler with only 2.....
;-)

Jen, Subvet says to me frequently "most children do survive childhood. It's the parents we have to worry about." :-)

Seriously folks, these kids are great, and he won't be going to high school in diapers so I'm trying to relax a bit.