I have questions...and a success.
Questions first:
1) Little man likes to take off his pull-up / diaper after he poops. The problem is that he does this without my knowledge and then I wind up with two messes to clean. I know he's trying to be helpful, and he usually comes to me immediately after completing his "business", but it is getting old. Any suggestions on how to get him to wait to take his stuff off until I am with him? And if your suggestions are going to involve full-blown potty training...then please email me with all insight, ideas, and genius you can share. I'm not sure how to train with extra "bits and pieces". My email is dherwig@Knology.net .
2) Little man has consistently kicked the side of his bed so many times that he barely pushes it now and the rail pops off. He loves the freedom of getting out of his bed whenever he feels like it, but I'm not feeling it so much. Please don't try to convince me that he is old enough for a toddler bed, because I will have to politely disagree. This child needs containment. I must have put him back in his bed 8 times for one attempt at a nap. Then, one night, he wakes up and would have walked right out into the dark house if I hadn't heard his bed being destroyed. I caught him as his cute and determined little hand was on the doorknob. I just can't have him not taking naps. Not only does he still need that extra rest (trust me on this one), but I like the structure. Even if there are days he just will not go to sleep, at least he is still in his bed having "quiet time". Yes, I need the quiet time. So yesterday, from fear of little man wondering the house alone at night, I had Steve rig his bed so he can't pop the side off. It works great! I put little man down for a nap yesterday, and I heard him immediately trying to do his usual damage. Obviously, he had no success...and it wasn't for lack of trying. Man, is that kid persistent! He cried and got mad, then he cried and got sad, then he cried and got manipulative. But I held tough, and he finally fell asleep and napped for over 2 hours. Hallelujah! Here's my question...is this somehow damaging to my son for him to feel trapped and locked out of basically everything in our home? Seriously, we have locks on EVERYTHING. But if we didn't, he would get into who knows what. I am not exaggerating. This kid is a tornado. He is my heart and soul, but he is Mother Nature's wrath. Is it really okay that in addition to being locked out of all bedrooms, bathrooms, study, appliances, cabinets and drawers, and locked in the house with one doorknob lock and two dead bolts, that he is now trapped in his bed? I'm saying he is just learning boundaries. I'm also saying it is preventing our home from falling down on our heads. Am I being delusional? Or am I the world's best mom? I prefer the latter, but I'm open to suggestions and kind critique. It takes a village, you know.
And finally, here is my success:
Thanks to Supernanny, we have a "sit down" chair in it's own special "sit down" place for little man to occupy when he is being a 'little less than perfect'. I wondered if this would work for a two-year-old and I was perfectly prepared for this to fall through.
But it actually works!
What happens is...when he hits or screams meanly or whatever, I warn him and when he does it again (yeah, he always does it again), I put him in his chair, get down on his eye level to remind him what he did that wasn't nice, and then leave him for 1-2 minutes. I go back, let him say: "Sowwy."(so cute!), and then give him love and it's over...until the next time.
So yesterday, he got mad at one of his sisters for some random reason and hit her. He looked up and saw me standing there...and then proceeded to walk right over to his chair and sit down. It was the cutest thing. Of course, he only had to sit for one minute that time. He shaved a whole minute off his time for sheer cuteness.
I am so relieved that for right now, this seems to be working. If, one day, the chair loses it's magic, I'll be back with more questions.
Supernanny is my hero.
Tombstone
6 years ago
7 comments:
Well, I can't comment on 1 & 3, but I agree with you on 2. I think you have to do what you have to do to do what is best for your child. Trevor doesn't want to take naps now that he can stand up in his crib, so I have to rock him against his will for 30 min or so to get him to relax enough to fall asleep. I felt horrible at first, but it's what is best for him. He needs his naptime!
My biggest advice is NOT to potty train him unless he wants it. People may say he's ready, but he will want to when he really is.
We've had to deal with many poop problems. Honestly the onlythinkg that worked with conner is putting him in outfits that he physically can't get to the poop in (Like ones that snap at the crotch, overalls, etc.) That broke him of his habit, for the most part. Good luck!
It's totally fine if you have locks for stuff. It's not going to have any long term damage...especially since you keep him out of what you don't want him into. ;) we have had to lock Heath in his room for bedtime because he NEVER stayed in there...now he asks for the door to be unlocked, we explain that if he gets out of bed we are locking it and now he pretty much stays in and goes straight to sleep! It's GREAT!! :)
I agree with Dahnelle on the potty training. We tried with Heath and he wasn't ready and every once in awhile will try him again and now he is asking to have morning potty breaks...if only it was all day potty breaks :) Good luck, this to me is the worst part about being a mommy of youngin's!
I have always locked my children in/out of things....and look how good they've turned out. :)
Two Words:
DUCT TAPE :)
One of my boys refused to get with the program...it was just too much to ask him to come in /stop playing to go potty/poopy so he would just change his own pullup/big boy underwear when he was done playing. GRRR! It became a real battle of wills. Then the child was left with Grandma and Grandpa and my brothers (who were teenagers at the time and pretty much the coolest guys ever to my 3 yr old) for 48 hours. On our return the child was totally potty trained! MIRACLE!!!! Apparently, a few comments from the teenage uncles about how uncool it is to pee in your pants was all it took. Never, ever did he wet his pants or the bed after that.
So, here's my advice: send Little Man to hang with some cool teenage boys for a few days! There's is nothing as good as 'peer' pressure! =)
When Hailey started flinging herself out of her crib and we started fearing for her life, she moved to a big girl bed BUT the saving grace was that she got a child gate in her doorway. Still trapped but with things to keep her occupied. Amazing thing? She still napped and was still only rescued when I was ready for it.
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