Sunday, January 25, 2009

This and That

Just a quick potty training update . . . If you remember from my previous post, I resorted to bribing my children to get them to go to the bathroom in the big potty. Jack was all about it and became quite good at storing up his potty so that he could get as many suckers as possible and James couldn't care less about the whole situation. Well, all of a sudden last weekend, James started exclusively going pee-pee in the big potty. I don't think he went once in his pull-up.

So, shortly after it appeared they had mastered the whole pee-pee in the potty thing, I decided to try to tackle "number 2." The sucker situation wasn't working so I decided to move on to reese's peanut butter cups thinking they would be able to eat them much faster. The new deal was if you poo-poo in the potty, you get 2 candy's. At first, this had no effect on either of them. In fact, every time I had to change James' diaper, I reminded him of the deal and every time he responded with, "OOOHHH, Okay!" As though it was the first time I told him.

All of the sudden, this weekend, Jack realized the awesomeness of the deal and started pooping in the potty. My initial reaction was elation! No more changing stinky diapers from Jack and I would only have to give him 2 candies a couple times a day. Off course, Jack being Jack, he had other plans in mind. Just as he was able to force out pee-pee for as many suckers as possible, somehow, Jack was able to poop 8, YES EIGHT! times today. Translate that into minutes I had to sit with him in the bathroom and hopefully you will feel sorry for me. Anyone know if Reese's peanut butter cups make children have to go to the bathroom more frequently?

Now on to one of my most proud moments as a parent . . . So I was sitting in the bathroom with Jack tonight while he was trying to squeeze out even the tiniest amount of poo-poo because he desperately wanted some candy and James comes in screaming at me and shaking his little finger as though I had just done something unimaginable. I can't make out a word he is saying but I clearly had done something wrong. By this point I was exhausted (tired and tired of being in the bathroom) and all I could say way, "James, you're not the boss of me!" Yep! That is parenting at it's finest! All you parents out there . . . feel free to use that one! It doesn't work for anything but . . .

Just Realized!

So I just realized that I never blogged about our Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey. Normally, I would just move on and blog about my wonderful potty training days but . . . the trip was a lot of fun and the boys had a blast at the beach so . . . here are some pictures of our trip.

Just a little background first. Unlike most families who rotate spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with the different sides of the family, we always spend Thanksgiving with Jesse's family and always spend Christmas with my family. Therefore, it is really important to us to try to see the whole Chupp clan for Thanksgiving. So, Jesse put in a lot of time and effort putting together the trip this year to Seaside Park, NJ. He rented a house big enough for us all to stay in and it was right next to the beach. The temperature was about 40 most of the time we were there so it wasn't too cold to at least spend time looking for shells and throwing them in the ocean.

This is my favorite picture from the trip . . .

Although it took a while to get them to this point. At first, they tried running away as fast as they could.


Mommy with Jack

Mommy with James

Daddy with James

Daddy with Jack

The Family!


Grandma Chupp with Jack

Jack with Aunt Esther, Uncle Ben, and Uncle Luke

The grandsons with Grandpa Chupp . . . attempting to watch a movie!

Cousins . . . the most peaceful they were with each other the entire trip!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Jack is working the system, friends!

Caution . . . Lot's of poopoo and peepee talk to follow!

So, my boys are almost three and aren't even close to being potty trained. I am convinced that twin boys don't EVER get potty trained! Unless you have a bathroom with two potties, forget it! I bought the little kid potties and even tried using them in the living room so that they wouldn't think of the BIG potty but it did not work. When we are in the bathroom, they both want to sit on the big potty; at the same time! There's a trick!

So, I had given up on the whole idea and came to an understanding that I would have to continue to change my boys diapers forever!

In one last ditch effort, I thought I would try talking to them about it like big boys. I explained to them that big boys go potty in the potty and that if they need to go potty, they just need to tell me and we will go to the bathroom. Like any good teacher would, I explained it to them, had them repeat it back to me, explained it to them again, had them repeat it back to me again, and on and on. I did a really good job selling it, they repeated everything I said and were so excited about it. Literally five seconds later, Jack poops in his diaper. I think he was probably pooping while we were talking about it.

So, I give up on the "Big Boy" talk and finally say, "Okay listen, if you go peepee in the potty, I'll give you a sucker! Poopoo in the potty gets you TWO suckers!" Well, that's pretty much all Jack needed to hear (all their lives I have been pretty stingy with the candy so I think candy might buy me anything with them). So now, Jack is working the system. Unlike most children who might have an urge to go to the bathroom and then would get a sucker for that, Jack has an urge for a sucker and then decides he can squeeze out some pee. When that sucker is finished, he goes back to the bathroom, peepees a little more and gets another sucker. OH! What is a mother to do?!?!

James on the other hand is in a phase that he thinks he can cry long enough and wear us down. He REALLY wants a sucker and it is really hard on him seeing Jack with twenty suckers hanging out of his mouth but I am trying to stick to my guns. No peepee or poopoo in the potty . . . NO SUCKER!!!!

So, does anyone out there have any great ideas for potty training. Tips on potty training twin boys would be great!

(I'd post some pictures of tonights events but I think they might be inappropriate!)