The boys have been loving playing with my candles for the past few days (not lit, don't worry). "Mama, can we play candles?!" Or, in Sammy language, "Pay goggles, peas, Mama?"
I'm not going to dwell, but we had the worst potty-non-pooping-screaming episode ever today. I keep wondering how much worse it can get, and then....WORSE. So while Elijah was in the bathroom screaming his precious little head off, I came up with this potty chart.
I sat and pondered this thing for quite some time. Elijah is a visual guy, so he needs to be able to see our expectations in words and pictures. I also knew that he needed to see that he will lose privileges if he does the bad thing (poop in pants) and that he will gain privileges if he does the wonderful thing (poop in toilet).
After the 3 hours of bathroom terror, he came out and looked at the chart. "Oh! Great job on the potty chart, Mommy!" Uh-huh. He read over it a handful of times, and we went over it together. This has all happened two dozen times before, to no avail, so we shall see. I have no expectations, but I have hope! Please please please!
By the way, if you can't see, each momentus "poop in the toilet" episode gets him a reward of some sort. Most of the rewards are "candy," but every fifth reward is a bigger and bigger thing/event. The ultimate reward (after the 30th poop on the toilet) is a day and night with Auntie Lissa, which is Elijah's absolute most favorite thing in the entire world.
We will see!! :)
Before the poop drama, the little boys and I went to the Children's Museum today! It is an understatement to say that they were on cloud nine! That place is heaven for children. I am happy we purchased another membership despite the fact that we do not have the resources to do so. We will make it more than worth the cost probably within a few weeks.
This stage has always been a favorite of Elijah's. What can I say, the boy loves to be the center of attention. I captured this photo and thought it explained both of our boys pretty perfectly: Elijah performing to his heart's content on stage while Sammy contentedly takes care of the controls where nobody can see him.
There is a fun little area that has a pretend grocery store, post office, restaurant and medical clinic. Elijah was running around like crazy, delivering packages (to you, Cecilia and Paul!) and purchasing cheese and making yogurt in the restaurant. Meanwhile, Sammy was so preciously taking care of this sweet dolly in the medical clinic. He held him so gingerly and hugged him and kissed him and loved on this little guy. Precious.
And as usual, the favorite part of the museum was the water works room. The boys stayed here for the majority of our time. I let them splash and play and make bubbles and have boat races to their hearts' content.
Since Sammy is so anti-baths, I was surprised at his love for the water.
Elijah ran around that room non-stop. "Hold on, Mom. Be right there, Mom. Gotta take care of this boat race, Mom."
This was Sammy's face when I told him we should think about moving into a different room.
Elijah loved this boat race ramp. He could have stayed here aaaaaaaall day long.
I asked E to smile with his apron on. "Cheeeeeeese!" (While not looking at the camera.)
And that was our day. We are hoping the potty chart brings us gradual pooping success! Thanks for checking in.
5 comments:
Looks like the boys had a great time at the Children Museum!
I loved "pooping is fun!" HAHA oh the things we do/say for the little ones
Where is my package? LOL ... just kidding! They're so precious and adorable. Give your two little men a big hug for us xoxo
Dont want to sound too negative, ,but came across this when searching for "potty chart" images on google. I thought it might be a textbook case of what parent's could try not to do.... so I wanted to read comments or see the article.
I'll make a couple suggestions that you can ignore =). Often you hear not to punish during potty training cause it can cause a negative/fear connotation with using the bathroom, which can lead to holding it in, constipation, etc. So losing privileges may be a bit too stringent. I'm trying to not notice the times we miss, say it's okay and just make the times she gets it right a huge celebration and a very big deal. I likewise wouldn't want to attach candy or any food as a reward because we're told it leads to "rewarding yourself" later in life and self-soothing with food. It may or may not, but it's a chance I'd rather not take given our family's genes. So we just make our time together the reward - as I said celebration. No other tangible reward than putting a (cheap store-bought) star sticker on a downloadable dora chart from the internet.
Some may disagree, but I hope this can be of some help to someone. Or at least spark conversation. All the best, Thomas.
This is awful advice to parents. I would never punish my child for pooping in their diaper. Reward the successes and rejoice and make your kid feel happy not ashamed for something they might feel embarrassed about.
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