On the Road to Potty-Training...Again

Lately Joshua has been telling me when he is wet or dirty after the fact, although not always consistently. We pulled out the potty chair a while back, and we let him sit on it occasionally, but we don't push it much. He mostly sits on it for fun or before his bath. I wasn't completely sure if he was really ready to potty-train. Rebekah was extremely difficult to train, and she was 3 1/2 before she finally decided to pee-pee train full-time. It sort of happened overnight, although she still had a number of accidents in the process. So, I didn't want to push Joshua if he wasn't really ready, but I wanted to give him the opportunity if he was.

So, just now during his naptime I heard Joshua crying which is unlike him for the middle of his nap. When I went to get him he was pulling at himself. I thought maybe his diaper was wet, and although it didn't feel wet it could have been a little, so I changed him. Then he started telling me "dirty". He wanted to go sit on the potty, so I put him on it. Rebekah was on the big potty as well, so he sat for a good while. I later noticed two little droplets on the seat, and when he got up I saw that he had pee-pee'd just a little in his potty chair! Woo-hoo!!! This is a first for him! Hopefully potty-training will be much easier with him.

One funny thing about it was while he was sitting on the potty and when I pointed him down so that he pee'd in the potty Rebekah started asking me questions about the difference between him and herself. "Penis" is a word that niether I nor Darrin are ready to teach Rebekah, so I just told her that it is where Joshua pee's, and that it's part of a boy. So, the next thing I know Rebekah starts asking if her friends who are boys have one too. Then she asks if men do also. Oh, the life of having a girl and a boy each!

Rebekah starts Preschool

Rebekah had her first day of preschool at her new school yesterday. I couldn't be happier with the school. Orientation was last Thursday, and although I knew this is where we wanted Rebekah to get her education, and I already knew it was a great school, I was still impressed with everything. Although I liked where Rebekah went last year I feel like this new school is much more organized and has tighter protection of the children, and I have confidence in the Bible teaching and general education that she will receive here.

Rebekah with her new teacher Ms. Amy at Orientation (We call her Ms. Amy #2 sometimes.)


The first day of preschool before we left the house


In front of the classroom door


Because Rebekah is used to staying until 2:00 she protested going home at noon. Parents have the option of picking up their child at noon or waiting until 2:00. Since all they do in the afternoon is eat lunch then take an hour-long nap, and Rebekah doesn't nap, I figured I would just pick her up at 12:00 most days. Once we got out to the car Rebekah started crying, "I want to go back to preschool!" It was a challenge to get her in the car at all, and it was raining on top of all this. I told Rebekah I would let her stay until 2:00 on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I think she was not happy about leaving while some of the kids were staying. She didn't want to miss out on anything. At least I know that she loves her new preschool, the class, and her teacher.

One thing I need to make sure the teacher knows is that Rebekah is pretty new to the pottying world. Once we arrived home and I picked up Rebekah out of the car I noticed that her bottom was wet. I felt the car seat and it was damp. I asked her if she pee'd in her carseat. No. She told me she pee'd on the potty at preschool. I checked her legs and they weren't wet. After talking about it with Rebekah I finally asked her if she pulled her panties down when she went to the potty. No. I guess I've crippled Rebekah in this area because I help her too much. I need to give her more independence with pulling down and pulling up her panties, but she usually fights me on it because it can sometimes be a challenge for her. I've gotten into the habit of helping her, so I need to do that less. So, tomorrow I'll have a talk with Rebekah's teacher about this. I wonder if Rebekah got help from her teachers in the past or if she did it on her own. Or maybe wearing a dress that day made a difference. Hopefully Rebekah will help with the potty issues too.

Private Conversations

Yesterday I took the kids to the mall. I had some things to return, and we were meeting some friends for playgroup at the play area. When we arrived I decided to take Rebekah to the restroom since she had not used the potty that morning after having had a wet diaper upon waking. We went to the restroom in JCPenney, and I helped Rebekah up on the toilet in the handicapped stall where I could park the stroller.

Rebekah sat there a while and wouldn't do anything. I asked Rebekah where the pee was. Her answer was, "In my pbajina." To me, this meant that she indeed did need to pee, so I encouraged her to do so. Soon after this she asked me, "Where is your pbajina?" I pointed to show her, and then she said, "Girls and Mommies have a pbajina." "Yes, they do," I replied. Then Rebekah asked, "Where is Joshua's pbajina?" I told her, "Joshua doesn't have a vagina." At this point I was very relieved that we were at the mall just as it had opened so no one else was in the restroom with us.

Rebekah then asked, "Where is Daddy's pbajina?" I responded, "Daddy doesn't have one." I told her that boys and Daddy's don't have a vagina. Then she thought for a moment and said, "What does Joshua have?" Oh, no! I wasn't even about to go there! I told her, "You will just have to ask your Daddy about that." To my relief she dropped the subject.

This evening Rebekah and Joshua were taking a bath together. Usually Rebekah does not pay any attention to Joshua's private parts, other than the one time she tried to touch him during family portraits when he was a newborn. There were times I thought she was talking about it, but she was actually referring to his belly button. I'm so glad the belly button is a fun body part for kids!

Several minutes into their baths after they had both been washed Rebekah reached over to touch Joshua. I told her not to because that was Joshua's. I told her that was his private. Well, she really liked the word "private" and declared that it was her private. She kept referring to "my private" then started calling the star fish bath squirt toy "my private". Fortunately, once I referred to it as a star fish she totally changed the topic. This girl really keeps me on my toes!