My Sickies and Potty Training Update

Gavin has had a head cold for the past 3 or 4 days now.  And when Gavin can't breathe through his nose, he always wakes up crying in the middle of the night.  When he wakes up crying, he always wants to "sleep in Mommy-Nanny's room."  He has slept in my bed while Andy (Nanny) was working night shift for the past 2 nights.  He's still stuffy, but I gave him an antihistamine before bed and I'm hoping he'll sleep through the night.  Of course, Colin started with his runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes this morning.  Please, God, let him sleep through the night.  I'm exhausted!  I was able to take a 30 minute nap with Colin on the couch while Gavin napped today, but it just wasn't enough.  Luckily, it's 8:18 pm, both boys are already in bed and asleep and I'll be in bed by 8:30 pm. ;)


Potty training update:  I gave up on underwear.  Here's an excerpt of a what I posted on WilmingtonMommies about it on Valentine's Day...


I am a bad mother. Between nursing an infant and trying to potty train my 2 1/2 year old...I want to shoot myself! I never get a second to sit down, eat, or anything for myself. I'm only able to type this rant because my mom and dad are here from NJ and this is the only way I won't scream at my poor toddler. I know it's not his fault and he's not intentionally trying to piss me off, but he has already peed his pants 3 times today and pooped twice...all in his big boy underwear.

My mom suggested putting him in pull ups for a couple of days and stop the potty training all together just to see how he reacts. He was doing SO well. He HAS peed and pooped in the potty once today. I kind of hate to back track at all...but I just can't take the constant peeing and pooping on in his pants and on the floor, laundry, nursing, feeding the big guy....I'm at my wit's end!!!

What should I do? Is this all just too soon?

and then the update I posted on the 15th...

Thanks for the support, everyone. I put him in pull-ups and it's been a welcome break for me...with a few surprises. He is still telling me a couple of times a day that he needs to pee. He's peeded in the pull ups a couple of times, but has also peed in the potty. He knows when he has to pee, but can't hold it long enough to make it most times. If I put him on the potty, he will pee, but he doesn't always want to sit on the potty.

He also made me laugh tonight. He was taking a bath and Mom-mom was beside the bathtub while I was nursing Colin on my bed. All of a sudden, he started whimpering and saying "no, Mom-mom...help, Mom-mom" and started peeing in the tub. By then it was too late to try to get him to the potty, so my mom told him it was OK to finish peeing. He was so upset. He NEVER used to care about peeing in the tub. It feels like such a milestone to me. It's like he's really getting the whole concept. I just need to be patient, I guess. I didn't want to spend the money on pull-ups, but I really think they are worth it for now. My mom always tells me stories about how my sister and I had "crash courses" in potty training and were done in 2 weeks at age 2 years and 2 years and 3 months. I guess I expected Gavin to do the same. I'm over that now, though.


For the last week or so, Gavin's been doing really well.  He doesn't want to use his potty anymore.  Only the big potty.  Sometimes he uses the potty seat and sometimes he wants me to hold him directly on the big potty.  He calls our potty "Mommy-Nanny's potty" and the spare bathroom (which we call Gavin's bathroom) is "Mom-mom-Pop-pop's Potty".  If I prompt him to pee when he wakes up and then every 2 hours or so, or whenever he grabs his pee-pee, then he does really well.  He even wakes up dry from his naps and about 50% of the time overnight.  If I don't prompt him, then I would say he tells me he has to pee-pee somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 the time, and he's improving.  We went to storytime at the library last Wednesday.  I was holding Colin and we were listening to the librarian read Dr. Seuss books and he says (loudly) "Mommy, have to pee-pee!"  I said, "great" and whisked him off to the bathroom expecting his pull up to be wet.  He was dry, he peed on the big potty, and went right back to storytime.  He even said, "hurry up, Mommy!" when I was pulling up his pants.  LOL!  He's doing great and, although I really didn't want the extra expense of pull ups, he's doing really well in them.  My boy is growing up. :)


I also registered Gavin in preschool for the fall.  He'll be going to Scotts Hill Christian Academy 2 mornings a week with his friends Addison and Grace.  He's excited about going to school with them and I think it will be good for Colin and me too.  I hope he likes it!