New Strategy

Day 3 was the same 'ole as Day 1 & 2 - lots of accidents, another load of underwear in the washing machine, disinfectant spray & paper towels, movie watching, blah blah blah...

Today was Day 4 - (see above note about Day 3)

So, bedtime is a new challenge because they see trips to the bathroom as a great excuse to delay bedtime....  and boy do they use that trick a lot. Back & forth to the bathroom multiple times and you KNOW that one boy can't go without the other boy following....ugh.  It tries my patience at the end of the day. 

I think that Josiah will be ready for the "real world" by the time I head to back to work on Monday (in other words, it won't be a total disaster at day care.) He had 1 accident today, but I think he just got caught up playing with his friends that came over.

I need a new strategy for Arlo - he's just not making any progress & he'll be wearing diapers to college if things don't change. So, I pulled out my original potty training book and have been doing some reading - the idea is that you center the training around the child's personality. So, we took the quiz and it turns out that Arlo scored highest in the IMPULSIVE CHILD category - surprise, surprise, right?? So, I'm reading that chapter of the book and we'll start all over tomorrow with a new strategy.

For anyone who knows my children, you'll know that this defines Arlo's personality exactly: (book excerpt)

"Impulsive children are the ones who are into everything, jump from one ambitious activity to another and never seem to tire. You may easily spot the parents of an impulsive child - they're usually sweaty from nonstop running. Impulsive children are energetic and active...they seldom or never sit still....Bodily risk-takers, they're the ones who climb all over the furniture...These are the kids for whom safety latches were invented...They are easily excitable and anticipate everything as a great adventure. Being typically happy children, they recover quickly from being upset and are usually adaptable. They easily interact with familiar and unfamiliar people or situations. For the impulsive child, every day is a new day and he lives for the moment"     (Stress-free Potty Training, By Sara Au and Peter Stavinoha)

So, I know that potty training isn't the most exciting topic to read about - so thank you for bearing with me. I use this blog as a "journal" of sorts for my personal/family records. I promise this will be the last long post about P.T....back to all the other "exciting" parts of my life. =)