So we have discovered through the course of potty training that our son is a tad bit backwards. In the normal course of potty training, at least normal as most children go, peeing is the first task they master. Children are normally able to identify when they need to pee before they can identify when they need to poop, and as such master the ability of making it to the potty before the pee starts flowing. Well, our son is not normal. While he has been making great strides in potty training in the little over a week that we have been making the effort, peeing is still a crap shoot (ha ha). Pooping, however, has been mastered. He has no issue identifying when he needs to poop and no trouble at all making it to the potty before the poop hits the floor (or fan if you want to turn it into a pun). The peeing is coming along, however we still have a ways to go. About half the time he can identify the urge to pee and make it to the potty. The other half, the pee gets everywhere before we stop him and get him to the potty where he finishes. One thing we have noticed is that he is getting better at controlling muscles of his bladder. The intervals in between peeing have grown and he is now rarely wet after his afternoon nap. I'd say that's progress, and yet, I still hate the whole process. I am just glad that the pooping is mastered. So the potty training continues, and hopefully it will be over within a few more weeks, maybe even sooner. I might just have to throw a party to celebrate the fact that we will need no more diapers till our next child is born. But its time to move beyond potty training for now and get on to more interesting and less degrading talk about our son.
One thing we are becoming extremely certain about is that our son will be one hell of a teenager to deal with. The independent nature that he is exhibiting is sometimes very frustrating to deal with, especially when he is tired. While I absolutely love the fact that he wants to be independent, solve his own problems, and take care of everything by himself; I wish he would be a little more accommodating in accepting our help. Just yesterday, we almost had a complete breakdown on his part over the fact that he wanted to re-fill his cup with milk by himself. We opened the refrigerator for him so he could show us what he wanted, he grabbed the milk, sat on the floor, and proceeded to try and unscrew the cap and pour the milk himself. Well, he couldn't unscrew the cap, but despite that, he still tried to pour the milk into his cup. I saw him try and I went to go help him. I unscrewed the cap for him, and asked him to help me pour the milk. This brought tears and almost a tantrum to the surface. I quickly put the cap back on and let him have the milk. I didn't give in, I just merely put a pause in our activities so that I could explain why I was helping him and that the only way he was getting more milk was if he let me help him. So with tears streaming down his face, he nodded yes that I could help him. I loosened the cap so he could unscrew it himself and then held the milk with him so we could pour it together. Success. After that, I let him have the cap so he could screw it back on, which he did really well. I honestly didn't think he would be able to screw the cap on the milk as well as he did, but once again, I was surprised. His manual dexterity is growing by leaps and bounds and every week bring something new that he has mastered. Even when it comes to drinking his milk, there are no more sippy cups being used, it is a regular plastic cup that we fill half way. His control in drinking from a cup is spot on 90% of the time with just the occasional tip too far which results in either milk or water coursing down his chin and shirt.
Even when it comes to eating, he is progressing really well. He has graduated from his high chair to a booster seat at the table (most of the time). The only times that we revert to putting tray on his booster seat is when he decides that it will be fun to put his feet on the table and push himself away. For the most part, however, he does well just sitting at the table. When it comes to eating with utensils, he refuses all help the majority of the time. He must feed himself come hell or high water. The other day he tried something new with his food. He likes almost every fruit you put in front of him, which my wife and I couldn't be happier about. On Saturday he was eating his apple sauce with his spoon and my wife was having grapes next to him. As it usually goes, he wanted the grapes from my wife. So she cut some in half for him and he proceeded to put them in his apple sauce. We wondered if he would actually eat the grapes with the apple sauce, but he did. At first, he allowed me to feed him a few bites, but then grabbed the spoon back and was able to pick up apple sauce with a grape on his spoon and get it to his mouth without dropping any. There are still times when he drops some apple sauce or other food, but he is getting much better with feeding himself. That's our little boy, independent and stubborn as a rock. He has completely entered the "no" phase of his life where the answer to every question is first "no" followed by a re-considering of the question on his part and about half the time a change to "yes". It can be frustrating for sure, but it is also really cute. One thing I have found through this whole process is that I have a lot more patience than I thought I did and perhaps the biggest key to this whole time in his life is my ability to explain why things are the way they are and why we must do certain things. If he starts to throw a tantrum, I can most times curb the anger and frustration from him by explaining things. I explain why we must do certain things, why he has to listen, and everything in between. While he is isn't forming complete sentences as of yet, he completely understands most of what we tell him. All in all, he is wonderful boy, well behaved, with a completely unique and bonkers personality.
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