well poop...

Potty training has sort been a bittersweet defeat I have recently suffered. After changing multiple diapers, all being cloth I decided that my now 2 year old should be ready to use the potty. I bought him training pants, underwear, treats for using the potty successfully, stickers, a small potty that fits on the big potty and a small potty for the floor. We were ready, so I thought. Vince appeared interested and eager to please, plus he loved treats and would sit there for hours on end with a looming treat to come. I gave encouragement, water to help things move along, yet nothing. We sat in the bathroom reading a book and pretending to wipe our bottom for an hour one day, not a drop of pee. He announced in a quiet church last Saturday he had to poop, only to look in his diaper and find he already had. Desperate I put him underwear one day just thinking that a few accidents would slow him a bit but he just peed and kept playing, when I announced that he had peed in his underwear, this embarrassed him and made me feel like an utter heel, so we just cowardly ran back to diapers and have remained in them since. I wish I knew the magic recipe but truly it is now an exercise of control. Vince has become very aware that now that he can talk, he can control things and now that he realizes he has control, well he is using it!!! One day he will expel all fluids in the toilet but in the mean time... 

My unsung hero's

I think I have explained that I am a very rigid, type A, high demand person. Even as a mom I am trying to do way too much and am always in check with the "idea" of slowing down and enjoying life but it wasn't until my son was having multiple meltdowns in the day from sun up to sun down did I begin to really see things for what they were. Frustrated and unable to understand what was wrong, I stopped looking at the outside factors like environment, or diet and began to look at the real issue, me and a 2 year old. Vince has no ambition to be in a hurry, much less make it there on time, be quite or say please and thank you, he is 2! I wondered if my frustration had came from expecting a 2 year old to jump in line and do as told, which as a therapist is crazy. The one thing I think about with every client is meet them where they are, you have to be effective as a therapist, so very sheepishly I did, I slowed down, opted not to work-out but rather sit on the couch and watch television with Vince, use my nice voice, reflect his feelings and just try to see how he really did need his car before we left the house. I finally just stopped and focused on his needs and guess what, the meltdowns have lessened if not ceased, I mean he is 2. I also have began just sitting down and loving on my baby Sydney, introducing new toys to her, letting her make a mess in her high chair, who cares, really I will eventually clean it up. Sadly my house will win no awards for cleanliness or style as my coffee table got the boot and it was replaced by a soft ottoman that son loves climbing on. My children, unbeknownst to them, are my hero's, my little saviors because without them I would be some workaholic with really nice stuff and never time to enjoy it. They make me realize it all goes by too fast to stay mad, hold grudges or focus on what you can't control. Look at a puffy cloud, enjoy a tree or spoon, there is so much that great about life, but you really must slow down to see it all!