First of all, this guy decided to potty train himself a couple months ago. WHAT? You ask. Yep, that's right. I casually mentioned putting on some big boy underwear one day, he agreed and made the effort himself, All - Day - Long. With little to no reminding on my part. I had been burned enough to realize that if it remotely came across as being my idea, he was going to push back haaaaarrrrrd and the battle would be long and treacherous. So that's how it happened. 3 years, 4 months old and Nathan is potty trained.
To all those soon-to-be potty-training (pt) mothers of boys, here's my advice (even though you didn't ask for it): if your pt efforts are met with anything that could be remotely considered "resistance", save yourself the hassle and lay off for another couple of months. I made 6, yes SIX, strong, planned out attempts to potty train him over the course of 16 months and what I learned was this: until he's ready, no amount of bribing, rewarding, threatening, disciplining, modeling or anything else under the sun will work. Save yourself the heart ache, keep the relationship in good standing and DON'T try to potty train him unless he shows interest within the first couple of hours. Spending the extra money on diapers and wiping man-sized poops off his little hiney are worth salvaging your relationship with him.
There I said it. Tries #1-5 were, no lie, no exaggeration, HORRENDOUS and HORRIBLE! But, when he was ready, he literally did it all himself. No reminders. All on his own.
Praise Jesus!
So on to some more wonderful things this little dude has been doing. He has been polite, mannerly, sweet, lovable, caring, kind, considerate, friendly, talkative, cuddly and an all-around wonderfully pleasant little creature to have in our house.
All I need to know is who abducted the old child and brought back this child that I absolutely adore and love to spend time with?
Guess it doesn't matter. He has been the stark opposite of what he was before and I love it. I love and adore him. I am constantly praising him for his awesome little personality
One of the little cute quirks he has is his imaginary friend, Chalk. His imaginary friend's name is Chalk, who is also called Cauk. Unless I'm totally missing out on Cauk being a different person than Chalk. I can't tell. Chalk and Cauk are sometimes adult men, sometimes 3 year olds, sometimes little baby brothers. They work with tractors, orange tractors mostly, road construction equipment, chemicals, big tires and just happen to experience a lot of the same issues that we face daily. Very sweet. Although, I'm not real crazy about the names, because I would hate for someone to mistake who or what he's talking about.
He's become fascinated with cigarettes. He knows one person that smokes and when he sees a cigarette on the ground he screams, "Wook Mom! A cigawette! Yuck! Those will make you very sick! Eeeww, mom. Don't touch dem. Cigawettes are yucky."
Okay, okay, okay. Can we say that in a little quieter voice, please?
But then he starts talking about how Chalk or Cauk smokes. Oh dear.
He has started soccer. He plays great at home, but on the field is a different story. We're still working on some basic soccer principles like 1) not everybody has their own ball on the field and 2) the other team is supposed to try to take it away from you. Usually we get in a good 5-10 minutes of descent play time on the field, then the other 45 minutes is him sitting on the bleachers waiting for the after-game snack. Small steps, mom. Small steps.
He loves his little brother and is fiercely protective of him, yet rough on his own terms as needed.
He will warn the doctors/nurses to not make his 'bwudder cwy' when they have to vaccinate him.
He has started the daily occurrence of becoming upset when we drop off sister. He says its because he wants to spend time with his friends and then becomes insistent on inviting over one or all of his friends, NOW. I'm pretty sure he's ready for pre-school. Mommy excitement just isn't cutting it anymore.
He has started asking me, out of the blue, "Mom, what can I help you with?" which is just enough to make me stop what I'm doing and go play with him. Melts my heart, that little man.
That's all I've got for now. Bottom line is this: from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 has been a complete 180-degree turn about in his attitude and he is a delightful creature to be around. I treasure these days I have with him. More updates to come...
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