Potty Training

I had a couple of big paragraphs here about the first day of toilet training and the toilet paper situation but realized I have already posted something on that one.  This new one was written better but I'm not going to make you read all that again.  So moving on....

The next day of training taxed every last nerve and fiber of patience.  There must have been 4 accidents in 40 minutes and I asked Kevin with tears in my eyes, "is it too early to quit?"  I was frustrated, annoyed, running out of absorbent underwear and super irritated at JT getting off the toilet and then walking 10 steps to pee in front of the couch.  Note to others:  absorbent toddler training underwear is absorbent as long as the training toddler does not spread his legs in a wide V formation.  Said stance only encourages the pee to travel at a greater rate of speed.  It's was not even 1 in the afternoon when I declared that I hated the day.  I don't remember what happened but 8 hours later JT did something or said something but renewed my faith in potty training and taking the day for what it was and what it could be. 

What it could be was a whole lot more challenging that I was going for.  2 hours after going to bed JT woke up with a seal like cough, burning up (but not a fever) and throwing up so much phlegm I was sure it was the flu.  I remembered Angela's posts about Spencer's battle with croup and so Kevin and I took him into the bathroom to sit in the steam.  Kevin ended up taking the couch that night because the three of us sleeping in bed doesn't work. JT coughed in my face all night in between sitting in the steam.  We went to the doctor that morning and confirmed my suspicion of Croup.  Steroids were prescribed and today he's still getting it out of his system.  Does it take forever or what?  JT was proud to tell Dr. Chiapetta that he was wearing underwear.  He had an accident while we were waiting to be seen because I was too nervous to take him to the bathroom when he kept pinching himself.  He had yet to display any sort of behavior to tell me he had to go so when I finally caught his "sign" I was torn between just forcing him in there and missing our appointment or seeing if he really didn't have to go.  Well, he had to go.  Lesson learned, but folks, that was the last accident!  By Friday he was telling us when he had to go and would go in, shut the door and then tell us he was done so we could see the evidence.  "Leave me alone for a minute please."

Poop was another issue.  He pooped in his diaper the first night (he gets a diaper moments before nap and moments before bed) and we've been waiting since.  Lora emailed me today to make sure I was still alive and if it was going better and I said we still were waiting for the poop, did she have any suggestions?  This was at 4:52 pm.  I sarted JT's dinner and he had eaten a few bites when he said, "Mom, I better go potty before I eat any more of my ABC's.  I'll be right back.  You stay here."  Okay, that's not unusual.  I went to pour a cup of coffee and I hear a faint grunt.  My eyes got big and a smile broke out on my face.  It's now 6:00 pm.

I went over to the bathroom door and asked, "Are you done?" 

He grunted back, "NOOOO." 

"Are you pooping?"

"Noooo."

"Okay then," I replied, "Tell me when you've finished."

I grabbed Kevin's phone and ran it up to him and said, "He's pooping.  He'll need to call Thomas in a few minutes."  I heard a scream/wail and ran back down to hear him in a panic about "...a poop in my butt!"  Poor guy didn't quite have it done so I told him he was doing a great job and to sit down, push once more and let it fall all the way down. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce you to the newest pooper in town. 

Back story:  In the preceding days we talked about where he used to poop and asked him where he should poop now.  We started the whole process with rewards of 3 M&M's for pee, 5 for poop.  That lasted just a day.  I remembered the Thomas sticker book my mom got for him that we had kept put up.  This thing has over 700 stickers so I gave that a whirl the next day.  A sticker for staying dry, a sticker for going and m&m's.  Soon the m&m's were phased out and just given randomly but the stickers were a big hit.  As the week progressed and he wasn't pooping I decided to up the ante to 10 m&m's and 3 BIG stickers.  Last night I pulled out the big guns so casually I surprised even myself.  I told him that if he poops in the toilet we can finally call Thomas. 

His eyes got as big as saucers and asked, "Thomas the Train?" 

"Who else would it be?" we answered.

"You have his phone number?  Can I see it?" He couldn't believe it.

We told him we couldn't show him the number until he pooped but as soon as he did we'd give him a call.  This is JT calling Thomas...