My brother-in-law, Larry, is a police officer. Christian see's him in the police car and is entralled with it, and I'm sure when he turns on the lights and sets off the siren for him to see, has nothing to do with his excitement about police cars :) Now everytime he sees ANY police car, he says, "police car, Uncle Larry, ride." I have to explain every time that isn't Uncle Larry but he has a car like that one. The last time we were at their house, Uncle Larry took us for a ride around the block and turned on the lights when he drove away after he dropped us back off at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Christian absolutely loved it!
So a couple of days ago, we stopped at the Quick Trip gas station to get milk. After I chased him behind the counter and pulled him out, we headed to the car only to see a police car was now parked by ours, with the officer still sitting inside. Christian immediately started up his chant, "police car, Uncle Larry, ride." I had to explain, again, that is wasn't Uncle Larry and he couldn't ride in this car. He got upset, kept repeating his phrase, louder and louder. The officer in the car could hear him and looked up when Christian reached for the door handle. I said very loudly, so the officer could hear me, that this wasn't Uncle Larry's police car. The officer did hear me and responded by smiling at us, which actually made things worse because Christian took that smile to mean he could have a ride. I had to practically lay on him to keep him in his car seat so I could buckle him in, he was arching so much to get back out. So all the way home I heard the chant over and over mixed with yelling and then tears. I managed to distract him by telling him we had to make sure to take Elmo into the house or he would get sick in the hot car. Every morning he takes Elmo to school with him but I make him leave Elmo in the car. Christian insists that I buckle up Elmo too, so adorable! So by the time I got Elmo unbuckled, he was calm and all was well.
I had to go out of town for the day for work on Wednesday so Mom and Dad came to help me out. My flight was supposed to leave at 7:20 am and school doesn't open until 7:00. So Mom and Dad came on Tuesday evening so they could take Christian to school Wednesday morning for me. The flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours which meant we wouldn't have enough time for our meetings so we had to take the later flight. Thankfully my parents were able to stay the day and pick him up from school. They had a good time together! He was asleep when I got home and the next morning all he could talk about was Grandma and Grandpa. I am so happy he has made a connection with them!
Tonight I decided to give Christian an incentive to do the whole potty training thing. He likes to sit on it but it's AFTER I change his diaper. I try to talk him into sitting for a few minutes throughout the day, when he usually goes, but he adamantly tells me, "Noooo!" I don't want to push him because I've been told that will make it worse and lengthen the process. So tonight I thought I had a brilliant idea and showed him some "big boy underwear" with cars on them and told him he gets to wear these when he goes on the potty. Boy did that backfire! He wanted to wear them NOW, I mean NOW!. I kept trying to explain he couldn't until he went on the potty because it would make a mess otherwise. He wasn't buying it and the tantrum and crying began. UGH! Dumb idea! In my warped mind I thought he might get excited and want to sit on the potty. Got that one wrong. I'm thinking about putting them on him tomorrow and letting him "go" in them so he feels what it's like and maybe that will prompt some action. I'll have to keep an eagle eye on him so he doesn't sit on the sofa or something! Uuummmmm, decisions, decisions.
~Amy
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I totally understand that back arching, they seem the strongest when they don't want to get in the car seat.
ReplyDeleteMy son isn't potty trained, but he sits on the potty a number of times a day. At first I had to let him hold, touch, or play with "illegal" things. A cell phone, ipod, car keys, and whatever random thing I could find that would keep him there. We have moved on to books, puzzles, and songs. We also switch up the potty. Sometimes he sits on the regular toilet in the bathroom and I keep a few favorite books in the cabinet. Other times he sits on the little potty chair in his room and we do puzzles and talk about letters.
At first he would sit for awhile waiting for something to happen, now I think we are a bit more in sync. I try to put him on when I think he needs to go (he isn't very vocal yet) and he usually makes something happen in the first two minutes.
Now he won't do puzzles anywhere but sitting on his potty chair....oops.
Good luck!!!
It is so cool to hear how much Christian loves being with Grandma and Grandpa. Zachary ADORES his grandparents and it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling every time :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for potty training...I too thought you had to wait to until the kid is begging to go. My day care lady told me otherwise and so I pushed it a bit. Not so much that he was getting really upset but enough to slightly push him out of his comfort zone. I started out reading books him to singing songs with him while he sat on the potty. It was a time when he got my full, undivided attention and he loved it!
There is a school of thought that says the best way to bet a kid to potty train is to put them straight in underwear. I do think that he is not going to get what you mean until you take the the diaper off. For Zachary, he initially could care less about messing in underwear. What eventually worked was letting him run around the house without anything on his bottom. He knew he shouldn't go on the floor. Eventually I started putting boxers on him (yes, they do make them that small) and that continued to give him that "free" feeling. I know, such a guy thing, right?
Christian will probably need to have a couple of successes on the potty before he really gets what you are trying to have him do but go ahead and put the underwear on. It may be the first step to him understanding what you are wanting him to do. Make sure he is seeing you go too. Show him your potty and all the steps you do. Walk him through it - first I pull my pants down, then I sit on the potty like this, etc. I feels kind of weird but it's the best way to show him exactly what he should be doing. Also, if you can grab a guy relative to let him take him into the bathroom while he goes, all the better. I'll never forget the time Grandpa came out of the bathroom with an odd look on his face. Apparently, Zachary walked in and exclaimed, "Grandpa's penis!!" Priceless, I'm telling you!!
Good luck!