Suzanne: "Ella, do you need to poop?"
Ella: "No."
repeat this conversation x 3
10 minute delay
Suzanne: "Ella, you need to get ready for bed."
Ella: "Don't move me. I pooped."
Suzanne's internal process: I have given of myself all day long for 4 of the past 5 days- 13 hours each day. I am tired. I am ready for bedtime. I have done the dishes, the laundry, gotten dinner. I have packed to go to Beal's for an overnight tomorrow. I have worn Maya on me for the past 2 hours. I DO NOT want to clean up, smell or otherwise deal with poop.
We go in the bathroom, me trying not to lose my cool and saying things about how she's going to have to say goodbye to the My Little Pony panties. I do this mostly because I don't want to clean them but also as a small consequence for her decision to poop in her pants. I bag them up to throw in the trash.
Ella: (looking sadly down at her underwear) "Bye, bye, My Little Pony." Then a few beats later as I am cleaning her up, with a look of genuine regret, "I'm sorry Momma." It melts me. I don't know whether to feel guilty that she feels badly or happy that she notices how her behavior effects me. I settled on "thank you."
We go upstairs and there is an elaborate go around about the pajamas. She had set aside ones for tonight and chosen the ones to pack to take to Beals and now she tells me I have it wrong.
Ella: "Momma, I've already told you which ones. I don't want to be frustrated with you."
What are you gonna do with this? Apparently, this is one of the ones I say often. It is true - I guess both for her and for me.
2 comments:
Oh, yet another pair of panties bites the dust... I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had to destroy otherwise perfect panties (and tightie whities), rather than endure the treachery of cleaning them!
It will get better, promise!!!
: )
Love, Jeannine
Ah, we are having potty woes ourselves. Lainey has been potty trained since this summer but at 2 1/2 only consistently asks to or makes it to the potty on time for the poop....never a problem with the pee. She doesn't really care if we throw underwear away though.... so we are stuck to more creative ways of consequences which sometimes work,other times don't. I guess dealing with toddlers/preschoolers we have to roll with the punches no matter how hard it is or how tired we are. But we feel your pain! You are NOT alone in that world! I guess it's all about one day at a time....
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