Sunday, July 24, 2011

My life in PottyLand

Here it is, Sunday night once more.  Once again, the weekend has flown by in a flurry of activity.  As I look back on the past few days at the pool, Liam's first swim meet, a trip out for ice cream, our obligatory Sunday mass and a great grilled dinner, there is one unifying theme.  The heat and humidity that has the nation talking?  Nope.  What I will recall most from this weekend is the inordinate amount of time I spent in the bathroom with our two year old triplets.  I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say that it adds up to hours.  

We are deep in the throes of potty training. It's reached the point where Kevin, Declan and Cormac are far more enthusiastic about it than I am.  The initial excitement of "PooPoo on potty!" has pretty much waned for me.  The cries of "Gotta pee Mom! Gotta pee NOW!" have me callously responding "NOW?! But you just went!"  Or, worse yet, "Can't you just hold it, little buddy?"  Needless to say, my weary responses are not to be found in any potty training manuals.  I don't have time to read them anyway but, it just feels wrong to tell a two-year old in PullUps whose personal pride is currently wrapped up the "Three P's" (pee, poo, potty) to take a chill pill because Mama would like a view of something other than a porcelain (or in this case, plastic) bowl!

While I would have preferred to spend less time crouching on the bathroom floor and more time enjoying the great outdoors (believe me when I tell you that 100 degrees in the pool beats 100 degrees in the potty!), there were (as there always are) a few bright spots during our shared potty time...

  • There was Cormac kindly encouraging me.  "Good Girl Mama!" he joyfully exclaimed as he barged in on what was to be my private moment on the potty.
  • There was Kevin, completely enamored with the "Magic Potty!" at the pool... that self-flushing variety is apparently a lot more exciting than what we have at home.
  • There was Declan, who can pee more than any kid I've ever seen.  He spent more time at the potty than in the pool... leading me to believe that perhaps he was drinking a lot of kiddie pool water... a thought I really don't want to linger on.
  • There was their shared joy at wearing "big boy underwear!"  My, how we've progressed... just a few months ago, they thought Ciara's old Princess Pull Ups were big boy underwear.  Now they are in Liam's hand-me-down tighty whities and just as thrilled.  Geez, the bar for these little guys is really set low!
  • Last but not least, was our adventure at church today, where I spent more time praying to the porcelain god than the big guy upstairs. 
I think it's starting to pay off though. Just think of all the money we'll save when we officially bid adieu to diapers! Just considering life without repeat orders from diapers.com is all it takes for  me to muster up enough enthusiasm to take three little fellas out of their cribs for one last trip to the potty... after all, I don't want to disappoint their image of this "Good Girl Mama."  

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