Thursday, January 31, 2013

BAD with a Capital B!

The things you learn about your only child from his daycare teacher. At home, with no competition, he is typically well-behaved, with some moments of defiance and meltdowns. The meltdowns that, a year ago were intense, are even generally short-lived. Then he has to peacefully coexist (and play) with a dozen other 3-year-olds and that's when the problems begin.

SHARING

First off, Little Man has been having major issues with this. At home, he is the KING. Nobody to share with. Nobody to take his stuff—unless you count the dog, who often tries to steal his snacks. He can put a toy down and go back to it later and nobody else has taken it. That's a big part of the problem. Little Man is used to things being HIS and now he has to "take turns" and "share" and when he doesn't, he has a major meltdown.

Generally he isn't mad, he is heartbroken.

"I NEED the toy!"  "It's mine!"  

Or he takes what he wants and doesn't realize the consequences.

We are working on rewarding him for good behavior rather than reprimand him for bad. If he does share, he gets praise and a sticker or something small. I am trying not to punish him for what he does at school, but ...

Then we had absolute REFUSAL to do ANYTHING his teacher asked him to do.

No coloring.
No sitting for story time.
NO I DON'T WANT TO!

Oy.

Thankfully this isn't happening every day. And a lot of it is because... HE'S THREE!

Apparently three is a rough year. Pro-blogger "Scary Mommy" shared a funny blog post entitled: 10 REASONS AGE THREE IS MORE TERRIBLE THAN TWO and it's mostly true.

I just want the good days to greatly outnumber the BAD ones.  Is that wrong?


Oh, in other news... Little Man will be in big boy underwear starting on Saturday. Wish us luck. He's done really well in pull-ups this week. Barely any accidents and he's even waking up dry. It just "clicked" for him, like many said it would. I'll let you know how it goes in the next day or so.

Friday, January 25, 2013

The "Poop" on Little Man's Adventures in Potty Training

Now over the  years, I've sporadically blogged about my only child's development and various random thoughts. And then I go months without writing. I'm not sure why, since I quite enjoy blogging and writing. But there you go. Now it's a new year--albeit several weeks into it--and I want to be more accountable to myself. I won't promise a post a day, but I am making a concerted effort to blog weekly. I'll go from there. I have a few friends who are really eloquent and I am going to get ideas from their blogs. So, ladies (finally Mom, Aitchie J and Peeper) I'm going to be blog stalking. OK?

But back to the topic I gave this post.  Here's the POOP on Little Man's Potty Training.

Just before he turned 3, this past Summer, he seemed very interested in the potty. So we were  having success having him pee in it and, for 4 days in a row, he pooped in the potty and earned a shiny new Bucky Pirate Ship from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. After he got the toy, he stopped pooping in the potty. And then began flat out REFUSING to pee in it.

My husband and I were very frustrated. He even went as far to say that Little Man would NEVER be potty trained. I didn't agree, but I was becoming too involved and upset, so we took a step backwards and just let him be--happily in diapers. We planned to do the 3 Day  Potting training boot camp deal over Thanksgiving weekend, but both of my sisters-in-law talked me out of it. So I let it go. Then I started my new job the first week of December and Little Man started daycare full-time (he'd gone 3 mornings per week previously). And he started peeing in the potty. His teacher actually told me, after a few weeks, that his diaper was frequently dry. I guess peer pressure isn't always a bad thing. It also helped him feed himself, which he often refused to do at home.

I need to remember that my child is developing at his own pace. He is a typical child with some sensory issues (hypersensitivity to certain stimulus) and some proprioceptive dysfunction where his brain doesn't always process the input from his muscles and joints about body position, weight, pressure, movement and position in space. It's why he often stumbles or actively seeks to press against me. He's seeking input. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with him, but I have to take that into account. So I figured I shouldn't push for potty training and that's a good thing. He finally seems to be ready.

For the last week or so, he's been peeing in the toilet regularly. He occasionally asks to go. Sometimes he's too busy playing with his toys. So my husband and I have set timers on our iPhones to remind him. And the big one... he's been pooping in the toilet too! He's had some accidents. And a few times he's just gone in his pull-up (we aren't in underwear quite yet). But for the most part, he seems willing to use the toilet. Last week was huge. We were at a doctor and he had to go and actually pooped in their restroom. No potty seat, with me balancing him so he wouldn't fall in! Then again at my husband's aunt's apartment. He actually went into her bathroom and said he had to poop. And did! And, in fact, last night he asked for PRIVACY to do his business. It worked. He was struggling to go when we were in the bathroom with him. But the minute I left, he pooped.

So I think we'll move him to underwear the 1st week of February. We'll keep with the Huggies Pull-Ups for the next week during the day. But then it will be underwear and several changes of clothes for daycare. I think that now, at almost 3-1/2, Little Man is ready to be potty trained.  We'll tackle night training after. Mostly because he still wakes up with a super wet diaper and I want to wean him off drinks of water before bedtime. But we're moving along and I'm hopeful that we'll be done with Pull-Ups soon.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Hello again, my friend.


Hello again, hello
Just called to say 'hello'
I couldn't sleep at all tonight
And I know it's late
But I couldn't wait
Just called to let you know
I think about you every night
When I'm here alone
And you're there at home
Hello

And maybe I'm to blame

But I put my heart above my head
We've been through it all
And you loved me just the same
And when you're not there
I just need to hear
It's good to need you so
It's good to love you like I do
And to feel this way
When I hear you say
Hello


Just called to let you know

I think about you every night
And I know it's late
But I couldn't wait
Hello



Hello, my friend, hello
Maybe it's been crazy
Hello, my friend, hello
Hello, my friend, hello

---

So I have a new computer and I can finally blog again! More details to follow!

Song is "Hello" by Neil Diamond from The Jazz Singer, which was my favorite soundtrack when I was 10 years old.