I don't know if any of you seasoned mothers have any advice to give me here, but I'm going crazy. Benjamin has been a great sleeper for a while, but recently has decided to push bedtime back father and farther with excuses from needing milk to going potty (again and again). Usually he's just running out of his room, finding random objects that he "needs" and then eliciting us to tell him to go to back to bed. I've given in too long, because it's only gotten worse and worse. I've tried ignoring him until he gives up and goes back to bed, but that's backfired too.
Benjamin is great at staying dry all day, but he doesn't like going #2 on the potty yet. He thinks it's gross. So we devised a sticker chart system to reward him for his successes. He's done it once. I guess he's scared of failure, because now he'll just go in his underpants or diaper without telling me, then take it off in the bathroom and dispose of it in the toilet before coming to tell me he needs a wipe. It's SO gross. Thank goodness for Clorox wipes is all I have to say about that.
So during the past few times that I've tried ignoring him while he runs around at bedtime, this is what happens. I really can't handle it anymore. Maybe I'm just an overly hormonal pregnant person, but it's starting to push me over the edge and I'm losing patience with him. I need help...
3 comments:
Oh, it looks like he's approaching 2 1/2. Lovely, isn't it? I don't think we ever thought we'd be "spanking" parents until Natalie turned 2 1/2. Then I didn't know what else to resort to. Threats of taking away the special blanket, no stories later, or even imminent death didn't seem to deter her...until we made good on the spanking threat. That's the big one that rarely gets used, but often gets threatened, if I've tried everything else. The thing I have to remember is that there is to be no spanking out of anger. If I even feel a little bit angry, I put myself in time out (or her outside the house) for a little while so I can cool off. I don't know what I'll do when the teenage years come around...
And as for the pooping--the only thing I can recommend is the big reward psychology--offering him something big if he goes a week with no poop anywhere but in the potty. Good luck with that. :)
Glad we're not alone! Emma does the same thing. We try to put her in bed around 8 and it's usually 9:30 before she's quiet. The only time she doesn't do it is when we've been out and don't put her in bed till 9:30, so I've wondered if she's really just not tired at 8.
Anyway, we usually just let her have a good screamfest and wear herself out (her bedroom door doesn't open from the inside) and then we go in and give her a big hug, and talk quietly while we tuck her back in. That usually works, and the bedtime drama has been shortened quite a bit.
Let me know if you find anything else that works!
Xander didn't catch on to the keeping underwear clean thing until Aaron got pretty serious for a couple days. He was 2 and 8 months, and he had only once successfully done a stinky in the toilet, though we'd been trying for 9 months! So when we knew he needed to do a number 2 (like if he hadn't done his usual one yet that morning) Aaron just made him sit on the toilet until he did it there. I think he had to sit there for 40 MINUTES that first day, and over 30 the second, and since then (which was february) I think he's only had stinky underwear once or twice. So Kudos to Aaron for being hard core when that's what the little guy needed!
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