Mommy Lesson #17: Never Poop

It's been months since I shared a mommy lesson.  They all come from my personal experience... here's our experience of today.

The story:
Today we had school time.  The boys ADORE school time, and I love it that it keeps them busy, learning, and not dumping legos all over the floor.  Manasseh's lesson included some cutting and gluing.  He did a FANTASTIC job.  Suddenly, I had a belly ache.  I HAD to poop and RIGHT NOW.  I left the boys to do their work and implored them to go upstairs after they finished the next task.

They did not.

When I returned from my private time, I discovered this:

Oh yes... the dreaded self-haircut.  I suppose that it's "normal" for preschoolers to do this.. but well, this mama LOVES her boy's hair.  

What I learned: Even in an emergency situation, stop to grab the scissors.

This morning

11am

                 

Now "I don't like the clippers"

I think he learned a lesson too.  He cried the whole time I used the clippers.  He didn't like the way it felt or the hair all over his body.  Oi, let's hope the next 2 don't find scissors too.

Mommy Lesson #13

Moral: Let him cry

Okay, so I hate it when my kids struggle with sleep times.  Monkey still struggles with it a lot of nights - he just can't relax his body to go to sleep - even when he lays still and tries really hard, it takes a long time.

Crackers has always been a very good sleeper.  That is, until about a week ago.  Suddenly he has decided that it is better to be awake than asleep.  He climbs out of his bed repeatedly - at nap time and bed time.  He cries and screams and carries on.. some nights this has lasted for a couple of hours.  THEN he started waking up in the middle of the night and needing extra attention.

Last night, Mr. Crum went out with "the guys".  I got to put the boys to bed by myself.  This is the first time I've done this since Crackers decided he doesn't like sleep.  I was tired and did not want to deal with the fits.  Mean mommy shut the gate at the top of his bedroom stairs, and let him cry.  Yep.  Mean.. after a while he started yelling, "Help me mommy."... I thought maybe he wanted help to get back into bed.  I was wrong.  I went up to help him and put him into bed.  The screaming went on.. he climbed out, but could not get down the stairs.  He wore himself out at the top of the stairs, laying against the gate on the floor.  He was asleep.

This afternoon it only took about 10 minutes for him to settle down after he discovered the locked gate.  I feel like we have improvement.  I hope it's not just a crazy fluke!  Either way, it is quiet in my house right now.  Ahh, blessed nap time!

I hate letting them cry... but maybe sometimes that's what it takes to help them learn rules and boundaries.

Mommy Lesson #12

Moral: Trust your instincts.

So, I just finished writing my post about Crackers and his newly formed coffee problem.  I took a shower, and upon exiting the shower, Mr. Crum admitted something.  He just remembered that he had finished his coffee before running errands.  Crackers did NOT drink half a cup of coffee after dinner (although I'm certain he would if he had the opportunity - therefore that lesson still applies).

There we have it, mama was pretty sure that mug was empty, and mama was right.  Trust your instincts!

Mommy Lesson #11

Moral: Clear the table before you feed the baby.

Story:

Okay, so we finished our spinach artichoke dip dinner (yum) and Mr. Crum needed to run an errand - QUICKLY.  He was kind enough to take Monkey with him, leaving me with 22 month old Crackers, and 3 week old baby.  

Naturally, baby got hungry - leaving Crackers somewhat unattended.  Mr. Crum had cleaned up a few of the dinner dishes, but not all.  There were still cups and tortilla chips on the table. 

Crackers is a scavenger.  He loves food, he hunts for food, he FINDS food.  He was climbing from chair to chair, doing his typical after dinner search - making sure to get every last morsel.

He emptied everyone's cups (except mommy's because I did not want him drinking coffee).

As soon as I was able, I put baby down and cleared the table.

When Mr. Crum got home, he started getting the "big" boys ready for bed.  Crackers was emphatic that he was not ready for bed.  In fact, he was very vocal about this for about 3 hours.  This is VERY unusual for our little guy.  He's generally pretty easy, we put him in bed, he talks or sings until he falls asleep.  Tonight he would not stay in bed, he screamed he yelled, he cried... I could not figure out what was going on.

That is, until about 10 minutes ago, when Mr. Crum said, "I should finish my coffee from dinner..."

Oh... there was coffee in your cup?  I thought it was empty.  Crackers finished it.  How much was there?... half a mug... oi.. no wonder he couldn't sleep.

Next time - we clear the table while baby screams his head off.  My toddler does not need the coffee, especially at bed time!

Mommy Lesson #8: Don't ask

Moral: Don't ask why...

Okay, I worked in a residential facility with abused young boys for several years.  One thing my boss told us again and again was this: DON'T ASK WHY.  His main reason?  It's nearly impossible to satisfactorily answer the question "why".  For instance, "Why did you hit Jimmy in the face?"  "Well.. see, he was looking at me mean..." Right, there's not a GOOD answer to the question "Why".

I know this, I promise.. I really do.

Tonight while we were at church one of the "pretty girls" came to tell me that Monkey had "an accident".  (We don't use that phrase at home, but that's okay, I knew what she meant - he had wet his pants).  I made my way slowly to the room where the kids were playing (I go everywhere slowly right now).  

Monkey was waiting for me in the bathroom with wet pants.  He wasn't anxious about this, he doesn't get in trouble for it - he's 3.. he's still learning and I figure if I don't make a real big deal about it, it won't be a behavior issue later (ie, I'm mad at you so I'm going to pee my pants in this public place to embarrass you).  This is a lesson I learned from a former foster son.

As I got down on the floor to change Monkey's pants, I asked him the unanswerable question...

"Why did you wet your pants?"

"Ummm... "

"Why did you go potty in your pants?"

"Pretty girl say I have to".

There you have it - my son wet his pants because the pretty girl (babysitter) said he had to do it.  LOL.  I am certain they did not tell him that... I've got to remind myself not to ask dumb questions!

Mommy Lesson #7: Science

The moral of this lesson is: clean it up the first time.

This morning, while I was preparing lunch, Crackers got quiet.  I know, ALWAYS a sign that I should see what's going on... I was pretty quick on the draw.  He had discovered that there was a roll of toilet paper sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink.  Being a curious 19 month old, he thought it would be a good idea to find out what happens when you run water over the roll.

The result: When water is run on a full roll of toilet paper, it creates a dent in the toilet paper... oh, and the paper gets VERY wet.

Mama was in a hurry to get lunch on the table and boys off to bed for naps - I left the TP in the sink, not wanting to deal with the soaking mess, I figured I would clean it up during nap.

Fast forward to nap time.
Monkey needed to potty - he REALLY had to go.  Mama sat in the other room and ignored him, after several minutes, he was instructed that it was time to be done.  "Okay" was his response, followed by an incomplete flush.  "Ugh," thought mama, "I plugged it up when I went earlier, I hate it when that happens".  Sent Monkey upstairs and discovered his science experiment.

When a 3 year old finds a wet roll of TP in the bathroom sink, he feels like it's a good idea to shred it all into the potty and see what happens.

The result: A full roll of wet toilet paper plugs up the potty, therefore the plunger must be used to "unclog" the mess.  Somehow the floor gets rather wet in the process of shredding toilet paper as well.

Next time, I clean up after the FIRST mess, even if it means delaying lunch and nap!

Mommy Lesson #6: Move quickly

Moral: Move quickly when they say "oh no".


Today it was hot outside.  REALLY hot.  Monkey brought me the juice from the fridge while the other boys were playing outside - and I felt obliged to let them all have a drink.

They were thirsty.  Maybe because they VERY VERY rarely get juice... but they each drank several servings of juice.  Crackers is always thirsty - so I didn't think much about it.

Until....
Mr. Crum got home at about 4 (we'd been inside for half an hour already).  Crackers was stinky, and Mr. Crum (my hero) was getting ready to change him.  We saw that Crackers was getting ready to fill his pants some more.  Soon, he was sitting down, poking at his diaper and saying "oh no"!

I was so stunned at what was happening that I froze.  What a dork.  I couldn't think of what to do when I saw that "oh no" was the best sentiment possible - his dipe had leaked and was spilling onto the floor... and he was poking at it... and then.. THEN... he rubbed it in his hair.

Aghast, I was incredibly thankful for Mr. Crum, who had much more sense than I did and quickly moved for a towel, clean diapers, some wipes, and a bag... he took care of cleaning Crackers while I started the bathtub.

Note to self: limit the juice... and get up quickly when that little boy says "oh no".

Mommy Lesson #5: It really might be that bad

Moral of the story: Sometimes they're right.

Today was a rough day for my boys.  First thing this morning, Monkey slammed his fingers in the door.  He cried and screamed, and grabbed his fingers and curled up on my lap... and cried and screamed and....
You get the point?  He was miserable.  I kissed his fingers, loved on him, soothed him, rocked him, hugged him, did all those things that mommys do when their little guys get hurt.

Then - he asked for a bandaid.  He's mostly gotten over that NEED when he gets hurt.. he insisted he needed one, and well, to be frank: I had other things that needed to get done.  Besides - bandaids don't help squashed fingers.

But he was right.  He opened up his little hand again and suddenly there was a pool of blood on one of his fingers - seriously, I had looked at his hand several times and there had been no blood.  I don't know what that's about.  Anyway, he got a bandaid.

It really was as bad as he made it seem.

***
Step forward in time several hours.  We were back outside, I was on the phone with my sister, picking up a toy from one side of the yard.  Crackers started screaming.  I turned and he was laying on the sidewalk, entangled in his Elmo airplane.  In his 19 month old wisdom, he decided to try out one of Monkey's favorite games - the one where he rolls on a "bike" down a hill.

I quickly scooped him up and loved on him, kissing his ouchies, comforting him, snuggling him.  He recovered very quickly and went off to play.

A couple hours later, I discovered he had a large knot on his head and had scraped it up pretty well.  His hair was covering it, so I had missed the real ouch.

It really was as bad as he made it sound.  He was right.

Mommy Lesson #4: Double Check

The moral of this lesson: If you thought you heard your toddler, check.. if you don't hear him from the stairs, look... don't assume it's the neighbor kids outside.

Now for the story:
I have an 18 month old and a 3 year old, I also babysit a 2 year old a few days a week.  Nap time is a VERY important of mama's day!  Yesterday I got the boys all down for nap at about 11:30, they were asleep by 12 - lots more squirming than normal.

In my now relaxed state, I decided to take a short nap - less than an hour - in my own room. When I got up, the boys were still asleep, that's always good news!  So I decided to do a little bit of other work and watch an episode of Monk.

My sister called to tell me she got Heelys in the mail.  That's right, Heelys - I was eagerly awaiting mine as I talked with her.  (Review of Heelys shoes to come in the next few weeks).  I thought I heard some talking upstairs, which usually means the 2 bigger boys are awake.  Then it was quiet so I ignored it.  Suddenly there was a knock on my door.

It was Mr. UPS himself!  He was bringing my Heelys.  I noted that the neighbor kids were standing around in my front yard (this annoys me but I ignored it).  I figured I MUST have heard them, and not the sleeping angels upstairs.  As I inspected my new Heelys, I heard another noise upstairs.  I hollered up to my darling Monkey and told him to come downstairs right now.

I went back to the "tv room" to work on lacing the great new shoes.  Moments later, Monkey showed up in the doorway, rather concerned and said, "I got ant on me".  Ant?!  I looked at him and was NOT at all concerned about an ant.  I don't know if I could have seen an ant.

My dear, sweet Monkey found the red finger paint.  You see, a couple of days ago I started my "organize the classroom space" project upstairs.  I did not get everything put away properly... and he found the paint.  He was pretty upset that he was going to get in trouble about this (I made it clear that I was not too happy with him).  As I started his bath water, he began rubbing his eyes, like he was going to cry.  You know what happens when you rub your eyes with paint on your hands?

It gets in your eyes, and that makes you cry more.  After a lot of scrubbing, I emptied the tub water and refilled it, giving him some instructions about washing himself as well - it wasn't... isn't.. all gone yet.  I went upstairs to check out the damage.

First thing I notice: red footprints all the way down the stairs - and red marks on the wall where he stabled himself as he came down.  Then, I got upstairs and saw the paint on his cabinets, desk, floor, some clothes, and the things I had been sorting.  It's a mess, but here's a small bit of what I found.

Have I mentioned that as I started cleaning I discovered that he had also found a couple of canisters of play doh and a container of moon dough?

Oi.... again - double check!

Mommy Lesson #3: Go outside

The moral of this lesson: When Mr. (or Miss) 2 year old is throwing a tantrum, walk away.

Tonight we had a fantastic dinner of spinach & feta hummus with veggies for dipping.  (Great recipe, I'll have to post it sometime).  It was a nice evening, and we enjoy sharing our meals as a family outside on nice nights.

Monkey and Crackers were both running (or crawling) around in their underpants with no pants on.  I gave Monkey - remember he's ALMOST 3 - his pants and told him he needed to put them on before going outside.  Wow.  Who would have thought that this would become a power struggle.  Monkey wanted help to put them on.  We know he is fully capable of doing it himself, but he's been very needy the last few weeks and refusing to do things for himself.  Mama insisted that he dress himself and the fit began.

Daddy stepped in and tried to reason with Monkey (reasoning with toddlers rarely works).  Monkey continued to have a tantrum, screaming, crying, insisting that he have help to put on his pants.  We both kindly arranged the pants in front of him on the floor at different times so they would be easy to slide on.  I chose elastic waisted pants so they would be easy for him.  He refused to do it himself. We both tried to help him hold the pants in his hands and pull them on to no avail.  He wanted us to put his pants on for him.

Finally, wise mama, said to daddy - we need to just go outside and  leave him inside until he puts on his pants.  And we did.  We went outside with the food and with Crackers and began our meal.  Monkey ran through the house crying, then he got quiet... and then cried some more.  After about 10 minutes he came to the door with his pants on and asked to come outside.

Yep, it worked.  We walked away, refused (finally) to argue about the pants, and he eventually chose to do it on his own so he could have some yummy food.

Mommy Lesson #1: Preschoolers & Potties

Okay, so I KNOW this... I really do... and yet...

Here's the essence of this lesson:
Don't ever... EVER go outside while your 2 year old is on the potty "making a big poop". 

The story?  Okay, so Monkey is pretty much potty trained, he has night time accidents and once in a while he has them during the day, but he hasn't pooped in his pants in months, and I like that.  Every night we have a struggle with him, he just has a hard time getting calmed down.  Frequently he uses needs to have a bowel movement just after bed time, and it's legitimate.. he really goes.

Tonight was no different.  He had to potty, daddy let him go (I was at the grocery)... I got home, he announced that he was making a big poop... daddy went outside to take care of some things in the yard... I stepped outside to sweep off the porch while he finished his work in the bathroom.  No problem, the door was open, I could hear him through the screen.

I hollered in to see if he was done, he didn't answer - that's a bit unusual.  So I put the broom down and stepped inside to check on him.  I found my sweet son bent over on the bathroom floor with the roll of toilet paper at his feet, trying to clean poop off of the floor.  Ugh.  As I got closer, I noticed it was not merely on the floor, but all over the seat, on the wall, on a tub toy that had gotten on the floor, the shower mat which was rolled up by the potty...

Oh my... mama kept her calm and cleaned up the Monkey, then put him in a diaper (no underwear tonight since he's displayed he has a belly ache)... and grabbed the disinfecting wipes... THEN when Mr. Preschooler continuously refused to go back to bed.. well.. mama lost her cool.. Monkey cried...

So, now you know.. never ever ever leave your 2 year old alone while he is on the potty!