And one funny thing about John has always been that he just does something when he feels like it. I stressed over the transition from a bottle to a sippy cup. I worried myself to death because he would just look at me like I was crazy when I would hand him one, and I just knew he was going to hospitalized for dehydration and refusal to use a sippy cup. Then one day when he was like 12.5 months old, he just picked one up, chuggalugged, and never had a bottle again. I mean he just decided to do it, and he did. He was the same with walking. I knew he had the ability to walk, but he could crawl like a son of a gun. I mean you can't imagine how fast this kid could crawl, and then when we were practically going to have to go to physical therapy because he wouldn't walk, he just started walking. Not stumbling around...I mean just walking as well as I walk.
So here we are with potty training. I'm not saying he is fully potty trained because he is not, but I have learned a few lessons over the last few days. I started this potty training thing by obsessively watching the clock and making him sit down every hour or so. This didn't work for John. He was just annoyed with me for making him sit down when he said he didn't have to go, but I didn't believe he knew when he had to go. So day 1 and 2 were spent mostly watching the clock like a hawk.
Day 3 I decided to bump the time back to every two hours because it seemed clear that he was never going to have to go every hour. We even left in the morning and went to Walmart for something I had forgotten on our last trip, and he did great! No accidents and peepeed when we got home. I was so happy. Then like 10 minutes after getting off the potty as my defenses were down and I was making lunch, he pooped in his pants. And he didn't like it. He didn't cry, but he I could tell he was disappointed. So I was feeling defeated, and then he woke up from his nap with a really wet diaper, and I was even more defeated. And then the afternoon rolled around, and I sat him down to potty and walked out of the room. Well he got up from the potty and walked over to his toys and played, and I wanted to fuss, but I kept telling myself "it will not be the end of the world if he peepees on the floor" so I just watched what happened. Low and behold, he played for about 5 minutes, stopped in his tracks, walked over to the potty and went. Just like that. Because he felt that he needed to go.
So today on day 4 I've been just asking him if he needed to go and trying to trust his answer, and we have been accident free. I think like every other milestone in his life, he's just going to do this on his own and in his own time and way. Crazy child has more bladder control than I do though. He went 3.5 hours today without going. It is SOOOO hard for me to follow this new just ask him and respect his answer thing when he hasn't peed in 3.5 hours! I can't go that long without using the potty!
I have no idea how I ended up with this independent child. It would make sense for me and Matt to create this super needy, clingy child because we are both a little needy ourselves. It works for us because we understand each other, but John is this "I do it myself, and I'll hug you if you make me, but I'm not kissing you. Period. End of story." kid. I'm learning to just go with the flow that's for sure.
We are still in diapers at nap time and bed time which I know is controversial to some, but he's not ready to give that up quite yet. He is a heavy sleeper, and I'm not sure that he would ever be able to hold it for 12 hours of heavy sleeping. I hope to be out of them for naps in the next month or so, but I think we'll be in them for bed for a bit. And I'm fine with that. Like I said...he'll do it when he wants that's for sure!
A few pics of our homebound activities. We were hoping to get out of the house by now in the potty training process, but we have been rained in. Today I asked him if I should invite his friends over, and he said "not today. I don't want to share my toys today." I never know with that one!
My darling naked chef. He is loving this whole pantless thing, but I'm trying to get him back in undies some of the time! This kid can work a food processor! Watch him hold that top down like a pro.
Today he opted for a pirate treasure hunt. This was his face when I said "say cheese!" He is so over my picture taking.
Unless of course he found all the treasure I hid!
After I hid, he wanted to take a turn hiding the treasure for me to find. Please see how adorable this is...he hid the treasure while I closed my eyes. He whispered and tip toed so I thought he was actually doing a decent job hiding it, but this is what I found when I opened my eyes.
And that's that for now! Stay tuned!