I HATE Potty Training!

I've broken my chain. I had said that I would blog everyday, but it's been since last Friday that I've blogged. Saturday was busy, but I had planned to make up for that on Sunday.

As we pulled into the church parking lot Sunday morning, Dean said...

"Well...we all have 2 weeks left to live"

I laughed and told him that it was actually depressing to think about that! And the night before, I went to bed thinking about what my final few hours would be like on this Earth. I was thinking for MY benefit, I would want to lay down in my bed, with Dean holding me, and my kids jumbled up next to me, and go to sleep. Honestly. That's how I would want to spend my last couple of hours in this life.

Then I got to thinking how my kids would wake up from that...and never want to sleep again...and I hated to even think further about it, so I gave in to the fog that was overtaking my brain, and drifted off.

My point is this: I believe that this is one reason (only one) why God won't reveal to most of us when our last few hours are going to be. We would likely be torn as to how to spend them!
Do we selfishly hold our family in our arms? Or do we crawl off somewhere by ourselves to die? It's too hard for me to think about, and quite frankly, this study is extremely hard to wrap my brain around.

Because who among us thinks they only have 30 days
(or 13 days now) left to live?
We can't fathom that we're not even promised the next breath!
Much less plan to die in less than a month's time!!
.

Quite simply put...we think we'll live
for a very long time on this planet.

Even though God didn't promise us that.

Having said all that, I AM more grateful just thinking that the next 13 days could be my last. But in reality, today could be my last. That's all up to Him!

So let me fill in the past 4 days for you...

I started to potty train Luke on Monday. He went through NINE new pair of Elmo underwear. No way was he going to pee pee in the potty! Never mind that he has used his potty more than a few times already...

That's one of my biggest PAINS about raising a toddler. Potty training. I HATE potty training. Basically, toddlers are going to pee pee in the potty when they get good and ready to. And not one second sooner! And anything traumatic happens (like you yell at them or pop their hinny on the 6th pair of wet underwear)...you can forget it. They'll leave you wondering if you'll have to buy diapers for kindergarten! Ever heard of the toddler's creed? That applies to ALL aspects of "toddler-hood"...

If I want it, it's mine. If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine. If I can take it away from you, it's mine. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine. If it's mine, it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what. If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

Someone clipped this out of the paper when one of my other kids was going through the toddler stages, & I have remembered it ever since. It's a SCREAM!!! Describes most toddlers to a "T"!

In other words...it IS my potty, but I'll use it when I DECIDE it's time to use it, NOT when YOU say it's time for me to use it...

Thus, I HATE potty training. It's more an exercise of the "will's".

I've got a truly wonderful potty training story for you before I shut down the presses for today:

My beautiful, smart, and very talented daughter Summerlyn is strong-willed. As in...James Dobson WROTE THE BOOK just for her! Imagine potty training a child who would get mad, throw herself in the floor, and wet her pants...just to get back at you for not doing what she wanted! So I was struggling, needless to say, with the whole potty training effort with Summerlyn.
My Mom, who lived 2 hours away at the time, decided she was coming for a visit...with a brand new pack of princess panties. When my Mom would come to Charlotte, NC to visit us, it was shopping time! We'd hit every TJ Maxx and Marshalls within a 30 mile radius. And considering that there were 4 TJ Maxx stores and countless Marshalls stores in and around Charlotte, it was an all-day shopping spree!!!
She arrived before lunch that day, and we set off...with Summerlyn in a dress and her "big girl princess panties" only. For some crazy reason, Summerlyn did not challenge my Mother in wearing those. She wasn't happy, but she didn't fight it when Mom pulled them on her. So here we are, walking around TJ Maxx & More at Concord Mills, with Sum-Sum in a buggy. Next thing we know, there is pee pee running down the buggy and all over the floor.

"No problem", my Mom said. "Go get some papertowels, Carmen"

Mom cleaned Summerlyn up, and changed her panties right there in the shopping cart, while I, of course, mopped up the urine with the paper towels.

And we went right on shopping.

Like my daughter had not just PEED in the floor of TJ Maxx,
with customers shopping all around us.

This type of thing went on throughout the day. But by the time we got back home that night, Summerlyn was using the potty. I don't know what happened with her that day. Maybe she resigned herself to being trained. Maybe she sensed that my Mother is much stronger-willed than she is. Or maybe she just got tired of pee peeing on herself. Who can say? What I DO know, is that she never went back to the diaper after that day.

So maybe Meme needs to come help Luke. Of course, he thinks the Elmo underwear are cool.
He's not the slightest bit concerned about pee peeing on himself...or the carpet...or the furniture. He's only concerned about "the spanker"...which is another blog on another day-HA!

Bless him, but before he can go to school, he will have to learn to pee pee in the potty. And before he dates & marries...he'll have to know how to potty properly! Right now, however, sweet, cutie-patootie Luke is more concerned about Kung Fu Panda, than he is using the potty.

And Luke's Mom is more concerned about losing her mind during this potty training season...or did I lose it with the last one?...or the one before that?...or even the one before that one?...maybe the one before...that...

I CAN TELL YOU THIS: If I knew I had 13 days left to live...
I would NOT spend one second POTTY TRAINING!!!!!