Today was one of those days when we are trapped at home.
And not because of a goal to be so.
Although, in case you were wondering, or really, in case you weren't, I was able to successfully meet my goal Monday of never leaving in the house.
I did, however, go to the mailbox. Which, if you remember, was one of those up-in-the-air activities. A game-time decision, of sorts.
Tuesday made up for Monday. We left at 10 am and didn't get home until 6:45 pm.
I was in search of a book for a baby shower on Sunday. Ever have that ONE THING you want to give and that's the one thing you can't seem to find anywhere?
This book.
So we visited a Half Price Books first. Negative. But the kids had a great time looking at the books. We stayed a little longer than we should have so they could look. Then we hit Chick-fil-a for lunch and playtime. As a reward for their awesome behavior in the book store.
That moved us straight to Rhys' three year check up.
Which is whole post unto itself.
Then we headed back out to another book store. I'd called around and managed to find the book but unfortunately, the bookstore was absolutely no where near either the doctor or our house.
Rhys slept the whole way.
We grabbed our book and walked around. The kids selected their Christmas presents. And I would like to invite you to join me in prayer as we seek to have their memories plucked free of those wants.
Because the LAST THING we need are two more stuffed animals.
For real.
Pluck, Lord.
Wednesday was a relatively normal day. But one where I knew we needed to complete our weekly grocery shopping.
Because I knew today was coming.
Sweet mercy.
Back in December, we attempted potty training with Rhys. He was asking to wear underwear and pee-peeing in the potty before bath time. I truly thought he was crazy ready.
I should have known better. Because anytime...ANYTIME...I allow myself to think, "Hey, this might be easier than the first kid," I prove myself fantastically wrong.
We gave it the proverbial good college try. But after a week, he'd made zippo progress.
Then he got the flu and that pretty much ended any shred of hope.
Since then, he's shown no interest. I actually put the potty away for several months. Besides, potential buyers don't really need a visual reminder there might be trace amounts of urine floating around the house.
So here we are. Three year old preschool is three weeks away. He has to be in big boy underwear when he starts school.
We've been telling him that for weeks.
He's been replying with, "But I go to the Kids' Park with Momma."
Not for much longer, Skillet!
I've been warning him for the past week that once his current diaper stash was used up, he was done wearing diapers. Momma was not buying any more.
He always responded with, "Okay."
In preparation, I bought him some new Avengers big boy underwear.
So when he got up his morning and it was time to get dressed, I presented him the new underwear and told him how EXCITED I was about our potty training day!
He then completely LOST IT.
There was a lot of crying and even more screaming, "NOOOOOOOO!"
After much discussion, we reached his issue with learning to go pee-pee in the potty.
"I don't want to go to school! I want to go to the Kids' Park with you!"
Now.
Before you put your hand over your heart and give that, "Awweeee..." I need you to understand how large of a roll emotional manipulation plays with a strong-willed child.
Rhys learned early on he can completely manipulate me with kisses and hugs and general cuteness. Because, let's face it, he is ADORABLE.
I recognized what he was doing. Of course, every momma wants to hear their little boy say he would rather be with Momma over doing anything. BUT I know he loved going to Big Sister's class. He would walk right in, say hi to the teacher, sit in the circle, all like he belonged there.
He is in NO WAY interested in skipping school.
That's just the manipulation of the moment.
And to give you another glimpse into the nature of a strong-willed kid, he stuck with that story ALL DAY LONG.
So I came back at him. Two can play at that game. First, son, I know and you know you absolutely want to go to school. Two, we're not going ANYWHERE until you go pee-pee in the potty.
And I never put another diaper on him.
He begged. I refused.
Two can play stubborn.
As I'm sure you have gathered, today did not go well. He refused to wear any underwear. Opting instead to wear just his shorts. And once we went through all those, he started wearing his athletic pants. Once he'd gone through those, he simply opted to go commando.
And when he's basically naked, he has zero accidents. This is the same problem we had in December. He would use the potty when he was naked but never when he had on clothes.
Today, he never used the potty. Not. Once.
I used the same tactics as I had with AK. Lots of salty foods he could eat in insane amounts, anything he wanted to drink and whenever possible. And treats for sitting on the potty.
NONE. OF. IT. WORKED.
Oh, he ate the food. Like almost a full bag of BBQ chips kinda ate. But he never used the potty. And after a few hours of sitting on the potty every 10 minutes, he refused to even do that.
But I stuck to my guns.
Which means we skipped our free Frosted Lemonade at Chick-fil-a today.
If you think I wasn't acutely aware of that all the live long day, you do not know me at all.
I just don't understand why no one delivers milkshakes. Restaurants do not understand the number of over-tired, under-showered mommies out there who would pay SERIOUS cash for a delivered treat after the kids are down. Especially when our husbands don't come home until after CFA is closed.
Oh sure, there are other milkshake makers but, CFA, you own me.
Because at this point, it is highly likely I won't be leaving this house again until Sunday when Chris is off. And I'm not sure my sanity can go Frosted Lemonade free for three days straight.
As an added threat, I told him if he didn't start sitting on the potty and at least attempting to use it properly tomorrow, we would lock ourselves in my bathroom all day long Saturday until he did use it. I warned him there would be no playing with Sister, no movie after quiet time, no playing outside. Nope, just him and momma in the bathroom all day.
I don't negotiate with terrorists. Even adorable three year old terrorists.
No comments:
Post a Comment