I am stuck...

...in potty training land.

We've progressed to being naked. (Well, him. Not me. Obviously.)

If he has on the underwear or the pull up, he'll go in it. If he's naked, he holds it for as long as he can and finally goes, but usually with me putting him on there. He does hold himself and yell help some of the time.

I'm going to have to go with Plan B, I think. Or Plan C?

I'm THAT mom.

Here are our first week of school pics! Will started his second year of preschool today. Caroline began first grade on Tuesday. (She is in the middle with her buddies on either side.)

Back to why I'm THAT mom.

Sheesh. I sent Will to school on the bus today - his very first day of preschool this year - with shorts that had no button. Miscommunication between his dad and I and anyway, the bus was early.

It wasn't until he climbed on the bus and his pants fell around his knees...no lie...that I asked my husband when we got back inside. (I was thinking it was because the adjustable waist wasn't tight enough or I would have run in and gotten him new shorts!) He came home with a string through his belt loops and soaked on the outside. Kind of looked like he might have tried to go potty at school and pulled his pants up himself. (You know, where they don't get all of the little boy parts inside the pull up?)

Oh well...at least it is Friday!!

And just when you are ready to give up....

The sun shines brighter.

No, I'm not talking about potty training.

The past month has been a difficult, chaotic one in our house. The two youngest have not been sleeping well, particularly Norah. She has been cranky beyond words and is approaching the infamous terrible twos. (Rightly named, I might add.) She and Will bicker and fight all day long on some days. Norah had a particularly willful month where she refused to do anything we asked her to. Her way or the highway.

Pair that with a boy who wants things his way, and it causes lots of commotion.

Over the past week I have been noticing little things. How Will is listening and following directions more often, offering "sorry" on his own when he's hurt her or gotten in trouble for not acting appropriately. How Norah is beginning to respond to the first "no" that we give her and actually show some restraint. How they are sharing some of their snacks without being asked. How Will has come up and given me a hug numerous times today and smiled at me...just happy. How Norah all of a sudden doesn't seem quite as needy...needing to be held 24-7.

I looked at something that came in the mail today....Day out with Thomas. For the first time, I'm considering taking Will to something all on his own. Today, in the store for the first time, he showed interest in a toy he really, really wanted and carried it around the entire store. (I showed great restraint in not buying it, actually.)

Tomorrow, he will go to preschool again, and Norah and I will have time to ourselves. I'm considering starting back up with my Moms in Touch prayer group and maybe doing something special, just with Norah.

Sometimes...it just takes a little while for the sun to shine again.

Houston, we have a plan.

So potty training a child with special needs continues here in our house.

I scoured the net to find a good plan. Because a masters degree in special ed just doesn't cut it when you're the mom. Seriously.

I've spoken with a few people, read a few things, and finally put all of the well meaning advice together into finding the plan that fits my boy.

It goes something like this:

1. Now that he's comfortable (sort of) with sitting on the potty, he will be going once every hour, starting tomorrow.

2. He gets a five minute warning. If this doesn't suffice, we'll add a picture cue.

3. He goes in, pulls his underwear down and sits on the potty. He'll stay there until the timer goes off, after five minutes.

4. Even if he hasn't gone, he pulls his pants up, flushes, and washes his hands, every time. He gets a reinforcer (goldfish crackers, in our case) for staying put and going through the steps.

5. If he does go, he gets tons of praise and a bigger reinforcer...all hail the cookie.

We're hoping things will start to happen. I believe it will, cause after all, the internet says it will. (The internet never lies, right?)

Phase Two of the Potty Training Experience

Today I began allowing Will to wear underwear. And nothing else. He bugs us to no end when he has gone number two, but because diapers are so fabulous, he doesn't care much about being wet.

So, the next step in my "plan" (I use the term loosely here) was to introduce him to the fact that being wet is not so fun. It worked. He didn't like being wet. Unfortunately, neither did my floor.

He did manage to pee in the potty once tonight, and several other times I saw some clear signs that it was coming and he was trying to keep from peeing in his underwear. The typical dance, the typical "boy-holding-his-private-parts" type of thing. However, he also kept from going in the potty as well because as soon as we would let him off of the potty, he'd go.

Brilliant. Onto phase three....and my glass of wine.

Sibling Rivalry

The total lack of posts lately represents the chaos in my household.

Norah, my one year old who came home from Vietnam in December, fights constantly with my son, Will. Will's sensory issues don't make it any easier.

Picture this...a four year old boy with special needs who likes certain toys a certain way and to have his space. Enter in a boisterous one year old who will take anything from anyone and will. let. you. know. in no uncertain terms what she does and does not like. "NO" is by far her favorite word in the English language thus far. Usually yelled rather loudly or whined in the way that only girls can.

Will is totally threatened by having her here. Norah is totally threatened by the attention that Will gets.

I'm barely surviving some days. Most of the time you can find me chanting a mantra, "This too shall pass. This too shall pass."

I only hope it passes before the wine is all gone.

Oh no. She's getting older.

And I'm in trouble.

Caroline (my soon-to-be first grader), and I went school clothes shopping with my mom the other day. Each season, I've been able to buy her clothes and pick what I think is appropriate for a kid her age.

Like I said...until NOW.

She immediately found something she liked and had to pull me over to see.

What did she like, you ask?

These.

Only the kind she picked had words written all over them. Call me old fashioned, but I was thinking...why don't we just invite someone to look at your butt?

Thankfully they were fresh out of her size. I'm totally dreading the fall.