Why I Love Bubba: He wiped!

This is the kind of post that, in a few years, will result in an exasperated eye roll and horrified gasp from my son.  Why must you record such a milestone on Moco and Bubba, Moooooom?!  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Because I had nothing better to write about at 12am on a Saturday morning — that’s why!

So… we finally had a breakthrough on this little issue.  Bubba wiped himself!  He wiped!  He really wiped!  Apparently it started off as usual: “CAN YOU WIPE ME UP?!” which prompted Mariah to walk upstairs, look at him and say, “Why don’t you do it yourself?” And Bubba replied, “Okay, I will.” And he did.

Now, if we ever have to give him back, he can plead his case Big-Daddy-style:

“But I wipe my own @$$!

A Little Milestone

My sweet Bubba has been potty-trained for well over 2.5 years with the exception of a little bedtime issue.  Bubba is a very heavy sleeper, so he still wears a diaper at night even though he is dry most mornings.  Without fail, every time I take a chance and let him go diaper-free after several days of being dry, he sleeps right through wetting the bed.  Recently he has been waking up when he realizes he is wet, changes into new pajamas (leaving wet clothes on the closet floor), and then comes to tell me so I change the sheets (not my favorite nighttime interruption).

I can’t tell you how much we want Bubba to be diaper-free, but also how much HE wants to be diaper-free.  Bubba often asks if he can just wear underwear and swears he won’t wet the bed.  We have tried getting him up to use the potty (still sleeping) before we go to bed.  We have tried limiting his fluid intake before bedtime.  We make him use the potty several times before going to bed.  We do all this because he doesn’t wake up when he has to go!  Like I said, 95% of the time he is dry when he wakes up, but there are enough times when his diaper is wet (including having leaked through the diaper and soaked the bed) that justify keeping him in diapers for the sake of the mattress and uninterrupted sleep.

Last night, however, we cleared a major hurdle.  At about 2AM, Bubba came to my side of the bed and said, “Guess what?  I woke up because I had to go potty.  I didn’t pee in da bed!”  He was so proud of himself — this is the first time he has woken up on his own to use the bathroom in the middle of the night!  We gave him groggy high-fives and sent him back on his way to bed.  This morning he talked about it again, and I’m really proud of him for waking up when he realized he had to go!

I know it seems silly to mark this milestone, but it’s important to us, and it’s important to him.  I know he’s ready to be diaper-free, so let’s hope that those days are really numbered now!!!

we’re making progress!

I just talked to my parents for the third time today. They went out to lunch with friends, so Gamma put Bubba in a diaper just to be on the safe side. Bubba stayed dry through lunch, but told Gamma that he had to pee at the post office (which lacks a public bathroom, of course). She asked him to hold it until they could get across the street to Starbucks and use the restroom there. Gamma was convinced that by the time she got him across the street, he would be soaked.

She was wrong! He was dry, so he used the potty and earned another quarter!

Bubba retold the story for me as only he can do: “I peed. Ayot!”

potty training

Bubba is officially coming up on the two-and-a-half-year-old mark, and we have been trying for a while to get him potty-trained. He just hasn’t been ready. I’ve bribed him with M&Ms (“yum-yums” in Graysonese). Nothing. New Diego underwear? Didn’t care if they were wet or dirty. *sigh*

Enter Gamma (aka “Gammy”), the parenting veteran who officially celebrated her 30th anniversary of being called “Mom” (my birthday) and who has taught preschoolers (her “other kids”) for as long as I can remember. Gamma bravely took on the challenge of having both Moco and Bubba full-time for two weeks, then fly back with them to Illinois. And she confidently announced, “I’ll potty train him!” while the rest of us (aka me, Daddy, Sherry & Susie) gasped. We’ve all been holding our breaths in anticipation of this miracle.

The first week we were in NM, Bubba had the runs, which made it pretty much impossible to have him out of a diaper for health/safety reasons. This past week, Bubba would sit on the potty but nothing else. Papa and Gamma took the kids to Denver to visit my brother this past weekend and conveniently forgot most of the big boy underwear and were so busy hauling the kids from one place to another that it was difficult to be consistent with potty-training. Yesterday, I noticed Target had Pampers Size 6 diapers on clearance, and I contemplated stocking up. Bubba, you can’t let me down now!

Last night, however, I received a voicemail from Bubba, proclaiming “I potty on da pee-pee!” Yes! We’re making progress. Unless that means he just threw his potty seat on an accident on the floor.

This morning, I received another voicemail from Bubba: “I pee-pee in da potty!” Fist pump. C’mon, buddy, let’s keep this streak going!!!

So I called my parents back, and Papa told me, “Gamma has unlocked the secret to getting him on the potty: money.”

That’s right, folks. My kid is going for the good stuff. Forget M&Ms, candy, stickers, or new underwear. He’ll pee on command for a quarter. And if he poops in the potty? A DOLLAR. (Seriously? I’ll do my thing for $1.25. Bring it on!)

Bubba has his own wallet in which to save his hard-earned dinero. It’s pink, and he looooooves it.

(Daddy, I know you’re groaning, but we will take a pink wallet over another one billion dollars in diaper debt. Agreed?)