The Potty Training Diaries - Week 9

So it's been a few weeks since I've written about our struggles with pottytraining. Frankly, it's been sort of a "Battle of the Bulge-esq" "please-for-the-love-of-everything-that-is-good-and-holy-pee-pee-in-the-potty" slug-fest, with both sides deeply entrenched, while the icy hands of frustration clasped us all.

Then, as it did in the Ardennes, the bad weather lifted, and the "good guys" prevailed. Jack seemingly "decided" on his own that he was going to emulate his dad, lift the lid and pretend to make yellow snow. So far, we've gone about 4 days of this practice, and to the extent that he was able to achieve "new scooter" status on his Potty Chart. So there's been lots of scooter riding in the past couple of days.

In fact, yesterday (Thursday) I returned home to learn that he had been "dry" (i.e. no incidents in his diaper) all day and that he had used the toilet four times.

We're still working on #2. Much to his credit, he's tried, but he claims it just isn't working. (The line from the Austin Powers movie comes to mind, "WHO DOES NUMBER TWO WORK FOR!?!?!?!" "Yeah, you show that turd who's boss.")

Found.

There are times when my normally finely tuned, task-oriented brain just up and quits and forces me to do a little bit of unconstrained thinking. It means I start reading either a random Wikipedia entry (there's a "random entry" button on the left bar of the Wikipiedia page) or get updates from friends' blogs, and then jumping from those pages to other linked blogs, then to another, and another until my brain is ready to get back on track. A smart man once told me it's the "playful puppy" nature of our brains, and sometimes we just have to indulge it so that we can stay efficient and on task the rest of the time.

Today, I had a moment which required some play time with my brain puppy.

So I started here. Then went here (which seems like a cool app and one I may try someday). Then here (a very neat photography blog). Then here. The last was my favorite. A truly unique and well honed approach to topical blogging, but yet one that leaves the door wide open to a wide variety of topics for discussion. I think the easiest trap for bloggers to fall into is limitation of subject matter to such an extent that finding new and interesting topics to write about becomes near impossible.

[UPDATE: This is pretty funny. I found this doing a search for "baby in a bar" on Google Images, something I refer to quite often. The second photo posted is what I located and couldn't live without. I also love the "dead to me" section in the left column.]

Things I Had Hoped I Would Never Hear Myself Say.

As you know, we're in the process of potty training Jack.  Boys are notoriously harder than girls to train (yes, that's our excuse for having a three year old wearing diapers), and it has been a challenge with Jack.  Complicating matters, he's strong-willed, so on good advice, we've been letting things take their course, encouraging the issue with promises of treats and rewards for repeated use.  He's warming to the idea of the potty, er... toilet, and he has even been asking to wear his "big boy" underwear that we bought him for his birthday in January.  

Long story short, Jack was with me in the kitchen tonight, hanging out while I cleaned up bit, sitting on his favorite stool, in nothing but a tee shirt and his big boy undies.  I looked over, saw activity I didn't condone (and certainly did not want to foster over the long term) and said, in a firm, stern voice,

"Jack, stop playing with it.  It's not a toy."

Yes.  The "it" is what you think it is.