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Sorry, it's been awhile since I have posted. We are STILL potty training and I want to... I better just leave it at that. I feel like no matter what I do, I am hitting a brick wall. They do great for a week and than WHAM! it's like they forget there is such a thing as a toilet. I remind them to go, I ask them if they have to go periodically when it dawns on me that they haven't trained into the bathroom in the last 45 min. I don't hound them about it because I don't want them to just shut down and say "I quit, you are too demanding".
Today we started out great, we had two dry over nights. I tell them they can pick out their underwear in the morning, but if they have an accident then they get whatever underwear I grab. This has affected Kaiden and he is determined to keep his "favorites" on for the whole day. At least this week it has work. It has seemed to put Everett into a battle of wits to see if what I say is really what I mean. Tehl, it just rolls off his back. He don't care, he's just excited to wear "unawares". To him it's a new pair and a different character. So today I put him in Aubrey's diaper and he was so MAD at me. I didn't know what else to do, but if I have to clean one more of his poopy underwear's I am going to... I won't say.
This morning after we ate, the triplets played around having a good time and Aubrey hung with me. Around 11:00 we ended up in the storage room. I needed to put away some outgrown clothes, so while I was there I made a mental check of the "too big" clothes since I am getting ready to go to the multiples sale. While I was in there I asked "Hey, does anyone need to go to the bathroom? We can come right back in here and keep playing, but if you need to go let's go." Nothing, they all said no. Two min later I smell crap. I yell, "Agghh who pooped their pants!" Everett is the first to pipe up "Aubwe did, Mom". He's right so I take her upstairs get her changed and we come back down. I set Aubrey in the playroom round the corner to go in the storage room and check on the trips to find Tehl doing a dance in the doorway of the storage room. I say "you gotta go potty? Come on, fast let's go!!" I take him in there and he has crapped. I was furious. I didn't know what to do to make him understand he NEEDS to go in the toilet. So I go upstairs to get clean up material and come down. I get him all cleaned up, take him upstairs and put a diaper on him. I say (calmly) "you are not wearing underwear anymore. If you want your underwear, you can earn them back by going to the bathroom in the toilet. Aubrey will share her diapers with you and when you decide you want to wear underwear with your brothers you can start going poop in the toilet." Since I put the responsibility on him and didn't TELL him he is forced to wear them, he was a little confused. I just hope it works.
So we head back down the stairs to find Everett at the bottom standing like a sore cowboy. His legs are apart and he is walking stiff. I knew instantly. I pick him up by the armpits and carry him to the bathroom upstairs to clean him up. He hasn't pooped his pants in at least two weeks. Where is this coming from!!!! I am so frustrated by this point I don't think I can even get my tears to work. I put him in a diaper too and realize it's 11:45 and lunch hasn't even been thought of.
We get done with lunch and Justin walks in around 12:30. He has been having a lot of trouble trying to breath and I don't think the cold wind has help open his bronchial tubes. He gives in and takes a dose of the kids' albuteral through the nebulizer. The mask that looks so big on the kids looked hilariously tiny on him. So to keep from laughing at him trying to just get his body some relief I take the chance at getting a shower. It has been two days. That shower felt so wonderful, maybe it was just the solitude. Ya, pretty sure that was it. But who has time to bask in that? I get out and Justin heads back to work, I lay Bitty Beans down for her nap and start laundry. When I handed Everett his pants they were the last ones in the closet and I couldn't believe it. I had just done laundry on Sat and there was nothing! Before this whole potty training bull, I did laundry once a week. Now it's every three days and I truly despise it. I would rather read or play with the triplets than keep up on that, because by the time the laundry is started it's time for snack. So they sit up to the table and start munching again. Just as they finished Bitty Beans woke up and they raced in to greet her. I desperately needed to get Beaners (my sister Serena's) wedding shower invitations in the mail. So at 2:45 we all loaded up and headed to the post office. As I stamped 80 envelopes the triplets ran around the post office like zoo animals that just had their cage opened. I gave up asking them to stand next to me. What kid wants to do that, and seriously what kid WILL do that when there are two others provoking them? So all the people that came in while we were there gave me their disapproving looks that said I should be ashamed. I am so tired of that. I try so dang hard with my trio and can't stand the spontaneous judgement from strangers. Yesterday at the mall I was called a "mean Mom" by some 70 year old man because I made Everett walk into Maurices and apologize to the worker for knocking the 14 foot hanging sign down. I thought I was teaching him, that man made me feel like a heel. So instead of Everett learning, I cried driving home. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, right?
So to finish the day I went to the class called "Becoming a Love and Logic Parent". It is helping, this is the third session I attended and it's not what I'm looking for. I need something that will help me referee triplets fights, discipline individually; but as a group, support and love them each for who they are. I wonder if Super Nanny would help someone who IS trying? Faliure seems to be my faurte' lately and it's not inspiring. I like to be happy and full of energy, but that ballon has been drained and I am stuggling so hard to find the helium tank that refills it. I hope I find it quick. The family I love and adore needs it too.