So we started learning how to use the potty today. Overall it is really going well. We had the expected couple of accidents but both boys are learning quickly. Now they take off running through the house, holding themselves, when they have to go to the bathroom. It is very cute.
Ben has successfully used the potty three or four times this morning and Nick about seven times. Nick has some pretty good control, so much so that he can empty about one third or one quarter of his bladder, hold the rest, collect his treat/reward and be ready to come back and do it all over again 2 - 5 minutes later. Clever little boy.
In fact, they both like going so much that they will say they need to go quite often, run into the bathroom while holding themselves and then decide they don't really need to go (after I come running in after them of course). They may decide they really don't need to go while standing in front of their potty chair, just before pulling down their pants, in which case they will say "not yet", with a smile. Or they may pull their pants down, sit down on the potty chair and wait two seconds before saying "done", with a big smile. It is all fun and games.
I am happy that they are seeing this as a positive experience and enjoying themselves. I have basically let the entire house go today. The breakfast, snack and lunch dishes are still in the sink. I have spent my whole time playing with them, reading to them, drinking lots of liquids with them and just having fun, while watching for signs that they need to go.
On the other hand, the NOT so fun part is getting them to STAY IN THEIR BEDS!! This one just might make me lose my mind.
They actually did very well last night and they didn't get up once so that was great. I changed things up a bit and it seemed to help the situation. I only let them each take up one stuff animal (Nick's Ya Ya and Ben's bear). They have collected a bunch and had gotten into the habit of wanting to take them all upstairs so they could play this game of throwing them, which was too much of a temptation to get out of bed, now that they are no longer in cribs. So, just one stuffed animal each. The other thing I did was that I let each of them pick out one small matchbox-type of car or truck to take to bed with them too. They love to pretend and push them all over furniture and they are usually pretty calm while they are playing this so I thought it might be a good way for them to busy themselves and not be so bored while they were trying to fall asleep. It worked like a charm last night.
Nap time, however, has not been so great. It does not seem to matter what kind of discipline I dish out, they keep getting up until they are so exhausted they finally crash. By then, I am so exhausted I am ready to crash too. Today I used the same methods that I used last night. The first thing they did was throw their matchbox vehicle across the room to each other to 'trade'. This is a no no so I confiscated the vehicles. It was downhill from there...way downhill (or maybe that should be uphill). Either way, it was not a good situation. They finally went to sleep around 3:00, after I had been in there a million times since I first left them around 1:30ish....also after Nick had a poop accident that was quite messy and I accidentally flushed his underpants down the toilet, while trying to empty them out:). That was quite a surprise. I have not gathered up the courage to flush the toilet again to see if it is stopped up. I will let the dad handle that situation when he gets home:).
I am thinking that maybe they just need a later nap these days. I have still been putting them down between 1:00 and 2:00 but I am thinking that I need to start waiting until 3:00 and then wake them up no later than 5:00. That is basically what ends up happening these days anyway, since we end up going through this battle for hours before they finally fall asleep. On the other hand, if they don't take a nap, they are not very happy campers, so I don't think we are quite ready for that yet (I certainly am not:).
If I don't take some sort of steps to fix this issue, I really just might lose my mind soon:). Anyone else's kids take a late nap at this age? (Ben will be three at the end of Sept and Nick will be three in early November).
They typically wake up between 7:00 and 7:30 am, they take about a two hour nap, sometimes three, and they normally go to bed around 8:00 pm. For nap, they had been sleeping between 1:30ish and 3:30ish but now they are not usually falling asleep until much later, after huge battles.
Any suggestions on tactics will be seriously considered and appreciated:). Much prayer needed and also appreciated.
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