Sunday, June 17, 2012

Overheard This Week end

I enjoy a blog post with tons of pictures just as much as the next girl, but sometimes there are things worth noting.

**Carson is potty training...still. He is at the exact point that I never wanted him to be, half way there and depending on the day 3/4 of the way there. Splitting his time between school, home and time with Daddy has left our approach haphazard at best. Where as Kate benefitted from a 3 day crash course where she sealed the deal by the third day, Carson's "training" has been a bunch of starts and stops. I fear he might be the oldest kid ever not potty trained at the rate we are going. His teacher reminding me that he is "by far the oldest kid in this class" did nothing for my Mommy self esteem and sent me into a fit of crying on Friday morning. The prerequisite for moving up to the next class is the ability to just go and Carson is far from that. Smart kid the teacher says and he absolutely deserves and needs to move up but his bathroom skills are holding him back. I'm quite confident that this will be the last time in his life where his bathroom skills hold him back from higher academia. I have to be light hearted about it at some point, because he and I are both feeling the pressure and as any Mom will tell you that will get you no where is the PT business. The kid can pee on command when I need him to, it's the other business that is our biggest hurdle. I tried a reward. We called it "pooping for Pirates" because his reward was a pirate ship. I thought I had it made when he came up to me at 7:30 last Tuesday morning and TOLD me that he needed to go poop. As any Mom will tell you this is the holy grail of potty training when they TELL you they need to go. I proceeded to brush my teeth nearby  to supervise where by he actually said to me "Mommy, I need to be alone."Short story is he did it and got the ship and then reverted back to his old ways. The following conversation ensued, "Carso do you need to go potty?" Carso looks up in a matter of fact way, "Nope, I already did!" Then begins the clean up. Alright I will stop there, except to say that I have spent a considerable amount of time in prayer over my son's potty habits which God may or may not consider to be important enough to listen to and either way I completely understand.

****Kate and Carson are on their way to being best of friends, except when they are trying to beat each other up. I constantly tell them "You guys are best friends, you should be loving each other, not fighting." As they were fighting last Tuesday over who would go in the front door first I realized that sibling rivalry was here to stay. What I choose to focus on is the sweet moments that they have and there are plenty of them. For every moment where Kate protests loudly that Carson is looking out HER window in the car!(true story. I told her I wasn't even going to dignify that with a response) there is a moment where she is cheering Carson on from behind a closed bathroom door ("Come on Brutha! You can do it! I bweve in you!") This week end as were were getting ready to hit the Kroger Kate was quite miffed that I would not go up to get her black shoes to wear proclaiming it too dark up there! It being noon and the sun was shining brightly I suspected pure laziness so I told her that she was perfectly capable. She sat on the stairs in a huff. Carson came up and asked me what was wrong. I explained the saga and he very seriously put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'll go talk to her Mom." I had to stifle laughter as I thanked him for giving it a go. He strode confidently over there, but upon seeing her dark mood decided to try an alternate approach. He set lightening McQueen down in front of  her and said "Maybe I'll let Whiting Queen talk to her." And proceeded to press the car's automated button that exclaimed such encouraging phrases as "See you at the race!" and "Kachow!" Either way it did the trick and she was soon bounding upstairs to get her shoes. I promise they have their own language.

****In a extreme feat of potty training solidarity I caught Kate going to the bathroom standing up this week end. I couldn't stop laughing for awhile about that one.

*** And finally while I was settling into a movie last night after the kids had gone to bed Kate snuck up on me and scared the day lights out of me. I gasped "Oh Kate! You scared Mommy!" She looked right at me and said , "It's ok Mommy...I just Kate.....I not a monster!" And there you have it.

By the way Carson just came up to me and started a talking to me and proceeded to pee on my carpet. Yep a LONG way to go!

2 comments:

the Whitelaws said...

Oh, friend, I feel you with the PT! Jenna was 3.5 before she really got it. I definitely lost many battles, pulled out some hairs and prayed many prayers. It wasn't until I kind of gave up (aka released the pressure) that she even began to have some success. But, I know there's that school pressure. Sending prayers your way. Love you.

Carolyn said...

This post made me smile. Youa re doing great Momm - you know why I know - because you see humor in things and that is soooo important - especially with the young uns! I love you and want you to know this post made my day :)

God has said, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Hebrews 13:5-6