Adventures in Potty Training

Nate has (pretty much) conquered the potty.

Hooray! Victory! Triumph.

But it was not without some excellent - funny - stories.
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At the post office, while applying for passports for the kids (which arrived! Hooray!) Nate informed us that he pooped.

Actually, what he said was "Mom, I pooped in the paperwork." (That's what he calls the post office - because we always have to fill out some kind of paper work while we are there.)

 I looked sideways at Greg and took in a pensive breath. What to do about poop in pants in public?

And so, Greg responded, "Okay, take him to the car and - we have a  change of underwear, right? - get him changed..."

At which point Nate interjected "No, I don't have underwear on. I left them at home."

So, now imagine that my son has on basketball shorts, shoes, socks, a t shirt - even a baseball hat, but no underwear.

And now picture this: the dawning of reality on our faces. That means the poop is not in his pants!

Quickly I ushered Nate to the car, and Greg dashed to the front entry way of the post office, where lo and behold: there were two nuggets of poop that had fallen out of Nate's shorts on the floor.
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Okay... so we recovered from the Post Office Poop.

And two weeks ago, Nate and I were having a particular battle of the wills over a nap/quiet time/rest. I left him in his room to read or quietly play or whatever (so long as he let me have 35 minutes of peace and quiet!). Not 5 minutes in to his quiet time, his gentle little knock was at the door. Quickly, I told him that nap time wasn't done and to stay in his room until I came to tell him that nap time was done.

5 more minutes. More knocking.

This time, I whipped open the door. And Nate is standing there with a plastic cup (that had water in it) and he says, "Mom, I made a mess. It spilled."

I sighed and told him it was okay, it was just water (after all).

But no. He informs me, "No, Mom. I peed in the cup. I had to go potty so I peed in the cup, and I spilled it when I was carrying it to the potty."

Now, we are both crying: me for not being more patient and offering a more gentle ear at his gentle little door knocking; he was crying because he could see the frustration and sadness on my face.

Believe me: Nate and I still go toe to toe (today in particular we are addressing listening and following directions). But that sweet boy finds a way to melt even the most frustrated me.