Sense of Direction
Every parent is allowed to think that their own children are the bomb. And even blog about it. So that's what I'm about to do. Please allow me to indulge.
One time we blogged about Taisei's ability to find his way out of a confusing hospital. I think it's been reconfirmed to us that Taisei really does have a good sense of direction. As Wami and Taisei were returning from a shopping trip to the Gateway Mall, Taisei pointed out the Energy Solutions Arena (former Delta Center) on the other side of the intersection.
Taisei: ママー、ここ来たことあるねー。
(Mama, we have be here before, haven't we?)Wami: そうねー（驚）ババとママと大成で来たねー。何見たっけ？
(That's right. [surprised!] Dad and mom and Taisei came here, huh? What did we watch?Taisei: バスケットボール。
(Basketball!)Wami: そうねー！！
(That's right!!)He remembered that we went to watch the BYU/Utah State game there back on Dec. 6th with my San Jose buddy, Michael. Taisei loved the intense atmosphere and also enjoyed walking up and down the steep stairs (since mama had to sit on the 20th row and Mike hooked me up with 5th row seats!). Wow, Taisei really got his mom's sense of direction and nearly photographic memory! I have a pretty good sense of direction, but Wami's is nearly photographic.
I must indulge further here. On preschool days, when Wami deviates from her regular path way home from Taisei's preschool, he always knows. He'll ask "今日違うねー。" = "Mom, we're going a different way today, huh?" It's somewhat of a comfort to know that we at least won't have to worry about him getting lost too easily.
Taisei definitely has his weaknesses and we acknowledge those as well, although, like 99% of parents out there, we normally drool over his accomplishments. For example, he's got pretty particular taste buds and doesn't enjoy eating that much. He's getting better and does eat more and more things. He's pretty shy until he gets comfortable and then gets totally hyper. We'll see if this changes in the future. He doesn't like to sit down to have chats with his parents. He's just like I was when I was a teenager! Anyway, I'm a firm believer that labeling can have negative psychological effects. So lets just say I'm capturing how he is at present day. One day, I'm sure he'll eat anything, be the most outgoing person in the world, and love talking to his parents. :)
Potty Log - Stardate 01.28.09
Taisei went cold turkey on daytime diapers. Since his first accident free day on Stardate 01.05.09, he has not had an accident. OK, I'll cut it out with the Star Trek nerdiness. I loved the original show. Anyway, no accidents for... what's that... 23 days now. Once he gained familiarity with the toilet, his previously acquired ability to "hold it" began to pay off.
On the other hand, he has begun to acquire the ability to "let go" as well. For the past couple of days, we knew he had been needing to go #2. We were tired of staying up late, waiting for hi
m to go in his diapers. I made him go to bed instead of playing around for hours. I'll post about how we finally did that another time. We knew he wouldn't be able to hold it all day for many more days. Yesterday was one day beyond his customary every-other-day routine. We knew he had to go, so we kept encouraging him. He tried going on the kid's potty and on the real potty probably 4 or 5 times. He would try and then give up. Finally, I reminded him that he would get something special if he could do it. I never tell him what that is, so that I don't have to figure it out until I really have to figure it out. After I told him that, he sat and pushed and pushed. Success! He was quite happy about his success. And so far, I've found that once I bribe him to do something the first time, I don't have to bribe him again. I even tell him that the special treat is only for the first time. I gave him a bath toy (a hand-me-down toy from our neighbor)
which was perfect for getting him into the bath, since he's been dodging the bath routine lately. Yesterday, he went to bed at his [relatively more] normal 9 pm last night. I'm seeing signs of our lives returning to normalcy! Hopefully from now on, he can have his successful #2s on the toilet every two days.
Update 01.28.09: Tonight, he came out of his room at 9:30 and then 9:50 reporting "mama, unchi shita." He went 2 in his diapers. :( We didn't expect that he would have to go the next day. Looks like we still have work to do.
Potty Log
[warning: the post contains lots of gory details about potty training!]No, not a
log in the
potty, mind you. ;) This is about Taisei's road to becoming an adult. At least in the potty department. I'm so glad it wasn't as gross of a process as I had originally feared.
San Jose:For the first part of our Christmas trip back home, I was too chicken to support Wami in her potty training with Taisei. So we put diapers on when we went places. But Wami persisted, and finally we decided to go for one whole day. His biggest obstacle for most of the trip was that he didn't feel comfortable using unfamiliar toilets, especially in the public. The first day, we took off his diaper in the morning at 10 o'clock. He refused to go to the bathroom all day. We didn't put on a diaper until bedtime and he never had an accident. This means he held it the entire day! Does that count as potty training? Probably not. The good news is that when we got home and finally got ready for bed, he used the toilet! So technically, it was a day without an accident.
The next day, we kept with the routine. This time, he went number 2 in the toilet. Woohoo - first time! (and it was a big sucker too!) He was so excited about it, he ran around telling everyone "unchi shita!" (I pooed!)
The third day, he went to the potty standing up all by himself while he was being watched by Aaron and Emily (on the Temple trip day). The standing up part was a first (and a last to this day). We wouldn't have known he had gone except that Adele saw him going and reported it to her daddy. He even moved the stool from the toilet to the sink and washed his hands afterward. Unfortunately, he did have an accident shortly afterward. We wouldn't have noticed that either, had Aaron not heard Taisei whisper "uh oh."
Sunday, he almost held it all day again until he had an accident at the Adaniya's place (sorry!). But he made up afterward by copying Nathan and going no. 1 while standing. Woohoo!
Monday, he had one accident at the beach, while the rest of us were kayaking. Luckily, my mom really is a super grandma and doesn't mind dealing with that kind of stuff. Later that evening, he went no. 1 (sitting) at Ariake Sushi.
During the trip, we had tons of progress. The biggest thing was getting him in the mindset that diapers are a thing of the past. It helps that he loves his cartoon underwear. The other big skill he learned was to hold it. And I mean, hold it for HOURS.
Salt Lake City:New year's day was a big mess. We had a party at the Jone's house, where all the kids drank tons of Capri Sun. He's not used to drinking that much and ended up having about 4 accidents before we left. The root of the problem was that he was refusing to use the toilet. Partly he was having too much fun, but mostly he just didn't like to pull his pants down and use the toilet. We were patient and kept persisting in the following week.
This past week has been wildly successful. So far, he has not had an accident for five straight days. In order to maintain that streak, there was one day during a dog walk to the park where he needed to go and ended up going on a tree outside. But the important thing is that he told us and he didn't have an accident! Yesterday, he actually told us that he had to go and led us to the bathroom. Today, he went by himself without telling us. As he's pulling up his underwear and pointing into the toilet, he said “ママ！おしっこ出た～！見てー。黄色！” (Translated: "Mamaaa! Osshiko deta! Mite - kiiro” = "Mom! I peed! Look - it's yellow!")
Todo:He's so close!! We still have just a few more hurdles to get past. His no. 2's take time, so sometimes he prefers to wait til he has on his bedtime diaper to do it. This ends up keeping him up at night until he's done, pushing his bedtime further back than we'd like. Secondly, we're too scared to not put on a diaper for bedtime. I know we'll have to do it eventually. But when he's sleeping nearly 12 hours a night sometimes, I don't know if there's any real hope that he can make it all night.
One time we blogged about Taisei's ability to find his way out of a confusing hospital. I think it's been reconfirmed to us that Taisei really does have a good sense of direction. As Wami and Taisei were returning from a shopping trip to the Gateway Mall, Taisei pointed out the Energy Solutions Arena (former Delta Center) on the other side of the intersection.
I must indulge further here. On preschool days, when Wami deviates from her regular path way home from Taisei's preschool, he always knows. He'll ask "今日違うねー。" = "Mom, we're going a different way today, huh?" It's somewhat of a comfort to know that we at least won't have to worry about him getting lost too easily.
