Big Boy

My son had another stepping stone of independence today.

He WILL NOT let me go to the bathroom with him in a public place. He insists on going into the boys bathroom and going all by himself.

I stand around outside the door all nervous. But at the same time, is it wrong that I'm more nervous that the little man is peeing all over the seat or the urinal or the walls and floors more than I am that something will happen to him while he's in there?

More Gross Bathrooms

Okay, added to the list of nastiness lately:

-- The Port-a-potty at Scott Park (new lovely playground on the corner of Third and Springfield in Champaign), which had poop in the urinal and looked like some drunken person had sprayed down the inside with urine. X-man opted to pee in the grass. And I swear I haven't stopped washing his hands every 5 minutes since he opened the door to the potty and said, "EWWWWW!"

-- The restrooms at Moraine View State Park on the Black Locust swim beach. Another pee in the grass opportunity.

-- The restrooms at the Dairy Queen at Exit 203 off of Highway 57 in Arcola. You can get the job done, but once you "deal" with the bathroom, you'd rather not eat anything from their kitchen. 

I swear I'm just going to carry around the little toddler potty in the car and some dog poop biodegradable bags, just in case my luck runs out and he's got to poop somewhere in the future.

Potty Training Update

So we're on week two of X-man wearing big boy underwear. We have accidents here and there. It's very spotty. We had two on Saturday, none on Monday, one on the couch this morning before school, but it's been great all day. All the accidents are urine related, which I guess is easier than poop. 

Mostly we're trying to focus on X-man watching where he's peeing. He tends to look around and point his penis in different directions. We're also still using a potty seat in the kitchen rather than the big boy toilet. He seems to notice it more and be more consistent in using it than when we take it away. But overall, he's hitting the toilet between 6 and 10 times every day without any trauma, and for that I'm very grateful. I think it'll be a while before we're 100 percent, and he's still got a heavy overnight diaper in the a.m. But on Monday he came downstairs, announced he had to pee, pulled off his diaper and used the potty. He could have peed in his diaper -- but he didn't. 

And I think he's cool for that. 

Gross bathrooms

One of the things I'm noticing more since having X-man is how gross a lot of public restrooms are. As an adult, I've peed in some really bad ones at crappy campus bars and such. But when a kid is afraid to pee when he goes into your restroom because it's so dirty or they don't have a changer area for you to put your baby down or even a clean area -- that doesn't help out anyone. 

So here's a list of places I've taken my son, where he's been completely creeped out about the state of the bathroom -- as well as places where he's decided the bathroom is pretty okay.

Yucky:

–Hessel Park, Champaign, IL

–Skateland, Savoy, IL

–Lincoln Memorial at the National Mall, Washington, D.C.

—American Airlines bathrooms

—Prairie Farm, Champaign, IL (he went, but only because I had his small portable potty seat)

—Most gas stations off Rt. 39 between Rockford and Bloomington

—Santa Monica Pier Bathrooms (apparently they're now constructing new ones)

—Morro Bay public restrooms on the waterfront

—Most of the reststops on the Pacific Coast Highway

—Meijer, Champaign

Okay:

—Schnuck's of Savoy

—Marketplace Mall, Champaign

—Culver's on Neil Street, Champaign

—McDonald's on Kirby, Champaign

—O'Hare Airport, Chicago

—Willard Airport, Champaign

—Indianapolis Children's Museum

—Great America, Gurnee, IL

—Chicago Children's Museum family bathroom (near water table area)

—Koret Children's Garden Bathrooms, San Francisco

Stellar:

—Nordstrom's (San Francisco and Oakbrook Mall)

—Ikea family bathroom (Bolingbrook)

—Disney's California Adventure Park (over by the Boudin Bakery area)

Got any that drive you crazy or gross out/scare your kids? What about ones that you were decent or extraordinary (Ikea is still my favorite).

Three Cheers for X-man

X-man went to school in big boy underwear today. I packed 6 pairs of underwear and 6 pairs of shorts and went away wondering how many he'd pee through before I returned to get him. He was there a long time today 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. And he only had once accident, while he was sleeping at naptime. 

I took him to Wal-mart to purchase a new kiddie pool, since our inflatable one went bust. When we got home, he played in the water for awhile, declared it too hot, and came inside to play with his fire station and watch How It's Made.

He's hit the potty 5 times since I picked him up. The big potty -- not the Superman potty in the kitchen. I'm very excited for him and very impressed. Taking the training wheels off (in this case the Pull ups) is hard for both parents and kids, but I'm thankful for all of my friends with older children who told me that he'd let me know when he was ready. He really did, and I'm glad I waited for that moment and didn't push. Now we'll see how he does for the long run. 

Moms and Their Boys

This weekend Quigs and I took our boys to Schaumburg overnight to see Thomas the Tank Engine Live at the Sears Centre. We've had our tickets since January and have been very curious about how our overnight was going to work out. Since Quigs is a former Schaumburg resident, she offered to drive, which was a great help, because I am an excellent travel attendant to three year olds. 

As it turned out the boys were happy watching Quigs' DVD player on the drive, which was pretty painless and less than 3 hours long. We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn, where we enjoyed free lodging, free water, free apple juice and free breakfast (the good cooked kind that included pancakes and custom omelets versus the continental) thanks to MacTroll's points and status. 

We did lunch and playtime at Woodfield Mall at their WB cartoon character play area. Then we took the boys to the Lego store and the Disney store. Bubba brought home a Nemo fish and a Sarge car. X-man chose a Wall-E phone and a Lightening McQueen car.

After a nap, we headed to see Thomas for the 5:30 show. The show runs around an hour and 15 minutes, but there's a 15-minute intermission for potty breaks. I'm glad we went to the 5:30 p.m. because, as it was, by the time we picked up the pizza and salads that we pre-ordered from the California Pizza Kitchen, it was almost 8 p.m. when we had dinner. (Good thing X-man consumed 1/2 of a giant thing of popcorn by himself during the show.)

The boys were fascinated by the show. X-man loved the dancing. Bubba was singing along. 

After our pizza, it was time for bed. The boys wanted to try to sleep together, but they couldn't stop touching and tickling. Quigs and I were trying not to laugh at them. But it was hard for them to be sleepy in a strange place. Still in the picture below, they seem almost sleepy. :-)

We finished our trip with a stop to Ikea, where we had to miss the free massages for mothers on Mothers' Day, but did find Quigs the table she wanted for her office. 

If the measure of a good time is by how many tears were shed after key moments of the trip, this was a pretty good time. Bubba cried when it was time to leave Thomas. He would have happily sat through the show again and again. X-man cried when it was time to leave the hotel. I think he likes all the crazy exploring he can do in one simple hotel room. Quigs was all verklempt driving around Schaumburg remembering life as a DINK... and I swear she was wiping away tears when we were in Ikea. :-) But she was a great friend to travel with, and she dealt with X-man's bedtime mania with a lot of patience and understanding. It was a great Mother's Day weekend activity, and we got a lot of quality time with the boys.

But we so want to take a Mommy-only daytrip back up to do some shopping sometime in the fall... any other mommies want to come with?

Oooh, and since we got home at 1 p.m. and I took off X-man's wet pull up, he's peed in his Superman potty (I taped pictures of Superman on a red potty) three times and pooped on the potty once today without any rewards... 

Update at 4:36 p.m.: Make that 2 poops (he had LOTS of popcorn last night) and 4 pees.

A Quick Update

We had a heap of fun this weekend and a few surprises. Our biggest surprise came after X-man took a shower on Sunday. Then he watched as MacTroll brushed his hair and his teeth. He got his comb and imitated these self-care habits.

When MacTroll went to use the toilet, X-man ran down the hall to his bathroom, shut the door, made a ruckus, flushed the toilet and came out smiling like crazy. "I went poopy, Mommy!"

"You mean pee, pee?"

"No, poopy!"

And being the Mom I am, I took a wipe to his bottom and sure enough he'd used the potty.

Later that night, he broke the side tabs on his pull up, so I took them off and then put his shorts over them. We were in the neighbor's front yard chatting and delivering them some Jarling's. Suddenly, X-man said, "Have to pee -- now!"

I yanked down his pants and he peed in the front yard. It was like five drops, but his brain seems to kind of start registering the process. 

We'll see what happens. 

In other news, I have started to have fantasies of being alone. So, I booked my annual Loosey-only vacation to Montreal. I'm going up in August for a long weekend. Hopefully, I'll get to meet my friends' son, get a visit from the Kellys and get some sleep. I'm also hoping I'll be done with my Carle Weight Management program by then, so I can eat a little more freely. But in case I'm not, I skipped the hotel and rented an apartment on the plateau. 

Now I have to go back prepping for my activity that I'm teaching to the Turtles at 3:30. 

Let's Hear it for Urination and Elimination!

Yesterday, X-man used the potty three times. This is hardly a record, but there was something very different about it. HE  TOLD US HE HAD TO GO, rather than us just leading him to the toilet. He even pooped one of the three times.

I'm hoping all those little synapses in his brain are getting stronger because it would be awesome to be potty trained!

A First!

Last night X-man was sitting in the tub playing with his toys when he told MacTroll he had to go poopy. This has happened a lot lately. MacTroll helps him out of the tub, readies his potty and then X-man sits and waits. 

Usually he ends up going pee pee and is generally surprised there's not poopy in the potty.

Last night, however, when he got up, there WAS poopy in the potty! MacTroll cleaned him up and then we all did the happy dance of praise. 

He started peeing on the potty in December. He was doing it pretty regularly in January, and then slid back all of February into only doing "exploratory" peeing. But this was a big thing for him. We're hoping that now that he's getting ready to go into a room at school where everyone is using the potty that it will be a regular thing by the fall. 

In other words -- no rush. But it was a huge accomplishment that he knew what his body was saying and listened to it. Hooray for X-man.