Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Potty Training Hell continues...

Okay so I lied,potty training continues. I stopped pushing Coen to use the potty, but if he asks to go I'm taking him. On Tuesday we woke up and Coen told me he needed to use the potty so I humored him. He sat on the potty for like 2 seconds and then asked to brush his teeth. I give him his toothbrush and left the room to get a clean pull up. I walk back into the bathroom and find a puddle of pee on the floor. Coen informs me he used the potty... not quite! He was too busy brushing his teeth to be bothered with sitting on the potty , or even aiming in the general direction of the potty. So I cleaned it up and PATIENTLY explained to Coen he needed to peepee IN the potty. Coen gravely nodded his head and agreed with me in a way that indicated he too thought puddles of pee were a serious problem.
Fast forward a few hours... Coen had a great swim lesson, we came home and he ate all of his macaroni and cheese(and even asked for seconds). By now Coen has asked to sit on the potty several times with no success. After lunch I called my sister and was talking to her about my potty troubles, when Coen declares he needs to go potty. I roll my eyes and walk him to the potty. I sat in the hallway on the floor talking to my sister and waiting for Coen to finish when he screams "PEE PEE"! Coen used the potty! Sort of... He was sitting on the potty but was a little off target. But thats okay! He went pee pee in the potty! I cleaned up the mess and praised him and we put stickers on the chart! I told him everytime he went potty he could put a sticker on his chart. It was great! I felt victorious!
Well, Coen didn't want to put his big boy undies back on, and I didn't want to chase after him so he streaked around the house while I continued to talk to my sister Christy(We had a lot to catch up on). A few minutes later I couldn't hear Coen running anymore and began to get concerned... but not enough to get up...it had been a long morning. Well I heard Coen walking slowly down the hallway. He had something all over him. I thought "No it can't be...he wouldn't have...". I ask Coen what he had smeared all over him, hoping it was food, or dirt, or anything except for what I was thinking. Coen had a disgusted look on his face and all he said was,"Stinky." So I asked him my dreaded questions: "Coen is that POOP on you?! WHY is there poop on you?! WHERE did you poop at?!" I had my motivation to get off the phone. I slowly walked down the hallway to the bathroom hoping I would find "stinky" in there. No such luck. I continued into the living room where his potty chair was. Nope nothing in there. With urgency I ran into the kitchen.. NOTHING! That left one room left to check, the only room in our house with carpet, the den. Sure enough I turned the corner to see(and smell) the pile of stinky along with a puddle of pee. He had tracked it all across the room. I took my poop covered child and put him in the shower. I cleaned him up while asking one question over and over again, "WHY?". I was more talking to myself than actually asking Coen. The only thing I could think about was the fact that he had been sitting on the toilet for 30 minutes less than 5 minutes before... and he pooped on the CARPET! He just kept saying "Sticky!" I cleaned up the poop on the carpet the best I could and called my husband. I told Coen to please leave the room, because Mommy needed a minute by herself(for his safety). There was nothing my husband could physically do for me at that moment and I'm sure he was incredibly thankful that he was 15 miles away at work, but I just needed to tell him what happened and see if he knew WHY it had happened. He didn't have the answers I needed. The fact that we steam cleaned our carpet that night made everything better. But I keep wondering to myself,"Did Coen think pooping on the carpet would earn him a sticker?" I don't know, but I do know that I wasn't cut out for this potty training thing.

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