Several small potty successes today and no accidents! I discovered last night that we were down to our last diaper when Nick peed in it and took it off right before bed. I had to put a swim diaper on him (which holds nothing) and tell him to call me in if he needed to go potty.
He did call me in at 12:30, but just to be held and comforted a little bit. Things have become a little scary for him. He talks about them while I hold him in my lap. Then he goes down to sleep again.
This morning, his swim diaper was still dry!! He kept himself dry all morning until he did his anxious little potty dance and I made him sit on the potty to go. We even made it to story time today because I had to go to renew my library card. He did great and stayed dry the whole time with underwear on.
Xander went to school mad and crying this morning. He had the normal amount of time to get ready and just didn't. He dawdled and gathered Lego figures to bring in the car. At the end, I got aggravated and let him know it. I hustled him out the door with only one figure, his socks and shoes in my hand. He told me I was so mean and making him so sad. I really felt very badly about it, but he did get to school on time. He wouldn't have gotten there for another hour if I had let him go at his own pace! I'll be interested to see how he is when we pick him up.
Tomorrow is their field trip to a strawberry picking farm. Should be wonderful for him. I hope he brings home strawberries! Maybe I can make strawberry jam...what am I saying? They'll all be gone before that happens.
The strawberries are magnificent, and being portioned out slowly by Xander.
ReplyDeleteIt is so hard for me to help Xander get ready in the mornings. The thing that works best is to basically bring him his clothes and start doing things for him if he hasn't started them on time (I also give reminders about what time it is, etc.) He doesn't like that, either, because I'm not "letting" him do it himself. (insert aggravated eyeball roll from Mom) The other thing I could do is let him be late. I guess I'm not ready for that yet.
Xander was absolutely fine when I picked him up and said he had a good day. We are going through a phase when he blames everything bad on Mom. "You made me late! It's your fault!" I don't let him get away with it unless it's true, but I guess he needs a safe outlet for things that are not going well or stressing him out.
I think you are wise to look at it like that- he needs a safe outlet to vent his feelings. It would be really tough on you if you decided to take it personally.
ReplyDeleteWould it be inappropriate to offer an idea? (I hope not, because I'm going to!) What if you had a timer set for each specific activity that he needs to accomplish in the morning. Then if he's not ready by the time the timer goes off, he will "owe" you X amount of time doing chores when he gets home from school, or he will get that many minutes less of TV time or free play time. So, if the timer goes off at 7:05 but it takes until 7:08 to finish getting dressed, he'll owe 3 minutes of whatever. Is that a silly idea?
Hmm, yes, I like it! I just need to think about what he will owe. He is so cheerful about helping me around the house most of the time that I don't want to make it into drudgery. :) And taking time off of something seems more abstract than making him give me time doing something like chores. I'll be thinking about what it can be. Thanks!
ReplyDelete