Potty training. Is there a worse part of parenting? Actually, yes, sleep deprivation. But potty training is a reasonably close second. On the whole, being chronically tired is worse, but at least it is mostly void of the fear that another human's feces is going to be inadvertently smeared on you.
The reason I bring this up, of course, is that we are currently trying to potty train Lil' S -- we have been for the past few months. It's going OK. I'd say he goes (number two) in the toilet about 50% of the time and in his pull-up the other 50%. That's not terrible, but only about 20% of the time is he going on his own volition, the other 30% we have to badger/bribe him to get on the toilet, or we notice him running off to hide (which is what he does when has to drop load), and we intercept him and carry him to the bathroom.
The thing is, I wouldn't really be sweating it -- I'm of the belief that potty training is like a hangover, the only thing that really works is time -- but he's starting PK3 in a few months at a public school, and they aren't allowed to change diapers, or even go near that area at all (which is pretty absurd, but that's a whole other topic), so your kid kinda needs to be potty-trained. Since Lil' S is a late summer birthday, just a few weeks from the cutoff line, he is at a bit of a disadvantage -- he doesn't have those crucial extra months to develop. Actually, come to think of it, it's really S and I that are at the disadvantage- -- he doesn't seem to mind one way or the other.
So anyway, this weekend we're doing a potty training "boot camp" (everything is a boot camp these days, isn't it), where you let your kid run around in underwear of even pantless, full commando-style, and this is supposed to potty train them somehow. I guess the idea is that if they don't have the familiarity and comfort of their diaper to go in, then they will be more likely to go in the potty, or maybe it's that they will feel the sensation better -- I'm not exactly sure.
And truth be told, I'm quite skeptical that it will have any effect at all (other than making a mess), but I'm willing to give it a try. As I said above, I think the only true solution is time, but I also believe that potty training is not a binary yes/no type of deal. It's a spectrum, and if this boot camp deal moves him along the spectrum a little bit then it will be worth it. I mean, if we still have to put a diaper on him at night for the next year or two, it's not a big deal. Even if he pees himself during the day, it's not that bad, we can put him in a pull-up. I'm not aiming for perfection -- accidents happen. I just want to get him to the point of not soiling himself on a regular basis during school hours. That's it. It's a very modest goal -- and hopefully an achievable one. I'll keep you all posted. After all, if there is one thing I know readerships crave, it's poop talk.
Alright, a few bullet points, and I'm out.
The reason I bring this up, of course, is that we are currently trying to potty train Lil' S -- we have been for the past few months. It's going OK. I'd say he goes (number two) in the toilet about 50% of the time and in his pull-up the other 50%. That's not terrible, but only about 20% of the time is he going on his own volition, the other 30% we have to badger/bribe him to get on the toilet, or we notice him running off to hide (which is what he does when has to drop load), and we intercept him and carry him to the bathroom.
The thing is, I wouldn't really be sweating it -- I'm of the belief that potty training is like a hangover, the only thing that really works is time -- but he's starting PK3 in a few months at a public school, and they aren't allowed to change diapers, or even go near that area at all (which is pretty absurd, but that's a whole other topic), so your kid kinda needs to be potty-trained. Since Lil' S is a late summer birthday, just a few weeks from the cutoff line, he is at a bit of a disadvantage -- he doesn't have those crucial extra months to develop. Actually, come to think of it, it's really S and I that are at the disadvantage- -- he doesn't seem to mind one way or the other.
So anyway, this weekend we're doing a potty training "boot camp" (everything is a boot camp these days, isn't it), where you let your kid run around in underwear of even pantless, full commando-style, and this is supposed to potty train them somehow. I guess the idea is that if they don't have the familiarity and comfort of their diaper to go in, then they will be more likely to go in the potty, or maybe it's that they will feel the sensation better -- I'm not exactly sure.
And truth be told, I'm quite skeptical that it will have any effect at all (other than making a mess), but I'm willing to give it a try. As I said above, I think the only true solution is time, but I also believe that potty training is not a binary yes/no type of deal. It's a spectrum, and if this boot camp deal moves him along the spectrum a little bit then it will be worth it. I mean, if we still have to put a diaper on him at night for the next year or two, it's not a big deal. Even if he pees himself during the day, it's not that bad, we can put him in a pull-up. I'm not aiming for perfection -- accidents happen. I just want to get him to the point of not soiling himself on a regular basis during school hours. That's it. It's a very modest goal -- and hopefully an achievable one. I'll keep you all posted. After all, if there is one thing I know readerships crave, it's poop talk.
Alright, a few bullet points, and I'm out.
- I saw this guy the other day driving with his foot out the window. Weird, huh?
- The other day, I was working from home, and I took a break and went jogging, which I often do when I work from home (one of the big advantages). I ran through a park, at which Lil' S and his daycare class were coincidentally playing. I decided against saying hi, since it would probably just upset him when I left. On my way home, far out of his sight, I was overcome with a strong sense of dread -- like something bad was about to happened to him, and I had just missed my chance to prevent it. Particularly, I was having disturbing thoughts of him getting hit by car while crossing a street. I nearly turned around and ran back to him, but I didn't because there was no rational reason to do this. Instead I went home and forgot about it, and then he came home later with S and was completely fine. I point this out as an example of when my "gut" was wrong. In fact, if you actually take the time to analyze what your gut tells you, I think you will find gut feelings are pretty worthless.
- Which is one reason why this interview I heard on Fresh Air was so disturbing. A lot of detective work is based on gut feeling. Police officers frequently get a wrong story in their heads about what happened and then make the evidence fit their stories instead of vice versa. It's the exact opposite of what they should do, and it's part of the reason why racial disparities are so high in our criminal justice system. I found the entire interview very frightening -- and I'm a nearly middle-aged white man. I can't imagine how I would feel if I were young and black.
- I do want to read the book Unfair profiled in the piece above, but my "to-read queue" is already about three books deep. I just don't read enough to keep up with it. Plus, after perusing this New Yorker article, I think I need like a year's worth of happy reading material before I can handle something heavy again. If you live or have loved ones who live in the Puget Sound region it is a truly horrifying account. I mean, we can all try to take some solace in the fact that we've been hearing about the "big one" that will devastate Seattle for the past 30 years and nothing has happened yet, but that's not very comforting. After all, as I heard somebody once point out, Mark Twain famously said, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." But then he did die eventually.
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