Dax's Journal

The Score

One day into Diaper Free Weekend and here's the score:

Parental Units: 4
Dax: 3

In other words, we got the kid to potty in the appropriate place four times and the other three times, beloved children's characters were soiled. The carpet took a hit twice. Once we lucked out because he was on the tile.

He absolutely LOVES his underwear. At one point he insisted on wearing two pairs at once because he simply could not choose one. Right now he's in his "night-night diaper" but he pulled on a pair of underwear over the top of those. It looks very uncomfortable but he doesn't seem to care.

Here's hoping for a dryer tomorrow.

The Wiz

Day One Diaper Free. Status? Slightly damp.

He started the day out, quite excitedly, in the Wiggles underwear he picked out himself. I explained that he was going to have to tell me when he had to go potty because underwear, it is NOT the same as a pullup. I told him that he would not be happy if he tried to pee in these because it would be very uncomfortable. He nodded vigorously, rubbing his impossibly tiny behind clad in colorful Wiggles undies. We seemed to have an understanding.

But just one hour later, as he stood playing at his train table, he suddenly looked at me with a mixture of alarm and disgust and then said "I peed." He then waddled out to the center of the room with his legs spread as wide as he could get them while still being upright muttering, "I'm wet."

The Wiggles had been wizzed on. Take that Greg, Anthony, Jeff, and Murray.

Fortunately, as soon as he realized he was tinkling down his thigh, he stopped so we only had a little bit of a mess to clean up. But he's on Underwear Pair Number 2. Let's see if Buzz Lightyear holds up better than the Wiggles.


EDITED: Moments after saving this entry Buzz got pooped on. It is going to be a long weekend.

Brave or Stupid?

Dax has been doing very well with potty training at school but he seems to be on strike once again at home. Our sticker reward system has lost its attraction. He does not care if a wet pull-up is "icky". He is deaf to our repeated inquiries of the state of his bladder.

I asked his teachers for some advice and this is what they told me: go to the store and buy him some underwear. That's right. Take the diapers off. Completely.

*GULP*

The theory is that he knows when he needs to go and that he's just being stubborn. The hope is that he won't like it when he pees and there's no nifty absorbent device to keep him from getting drenched in his own urine. Perhaps he doesn't think that a wet pull-up is "icky" but let us hope he thinks that having pee run down his legs is.

I do know people who have had huge success with this approach. And if his school is supportive of it then I don't see why it isn't worth a shot. So on Friday night we're going to take him shopping and let him pick out his own Big Boy Underwear.

It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend but chance of showers at our house is nearly guaranteed.

Sleep?

When Dax made the transition from the crib to the big boy bed, it went off according to plan. Heck, we put him down to sleep, read a few books to him, and he went off to slumberland. We worried that he would wake up in the middle of the night and start exploring our house while we were asleep, but lo and behold, Dax wouldn't even get out of his bed in the morning unless we picked him up and carried him out of his room.

It was four or five months of blissful bedtimes. Until Dax finally thought to himself: "What would happen if I follow Daddy back out to the great room after he finally tucks me in? Will I be able to watch some more tv? hmmm."

For the past two weeks, when we think we've finally put Dax down for the night, that's when you hear the shuffling of his feet coming down the hallway. Some nights he'll do this seven or eight times; other nights he'll do it two or three times. Sometimes he'll wait in the hallway just out of sight and sometimes he'll blatantly run into the great room, fall on his tummy, and then look at you with the most innocent smile that says, "I'm up!! What are you going to do about it??!!!"

Can't wait for this "I'm Not Sleepy, So I'm Not Going To Sleep" phase to end.