Independence

Potty training is mostly over (although Z wants to know when we are doing it again...he wants to have all the juice like we had the first few days!). C and L rarely have accidents, and I am not getting as stressed about getting them to the bathroom on quite the schedule that I was earlier. I still make them all go at certain times, but it is not nearly as stressful.
N, on the other hand, well, he is tougher. He still has an accident a day or so. I think he probably could have waited to be potty trained (although I do not regret AT ALL training them all at once...his one accident a day is no big deal!). I have to fight N to sit on the potty, even if he is dancing because he has to go so badly. Most often he has to go last, and we all have to leave the bathroom and shut the door, and THEN he will finally go. If there is too much action, he is up, messing with stuff, squatting (not sitting), playing...ugh...it drives me nuts and I am sorry to say I am not patient with him. We have had some knock-down, drag-out fights where he refuses to go, I send him to his room, he comes back, he refuses to go...5 minutes later (screaming and fighting the whole time), he just sits down and goes. ARGH!!! I guess he just is stubborn and/or simply wants to do what he wants to do on his own time. And that is fine by me, just don't PEE ON MY FLOOR (or me, as he did once after refusing to go then coming and sitting on my lap to read books before bed).

At any rate, that battle is almost over. So we have moved on to the next level of independence....dressing and undressing. After breakfast we have started a new routine of going to the bedroom and each kid undressing himself (as much as he can), then getting dressed for the day. Doesn't sound like a big deal. And for one kid, no. But three...let's just say I'm glad that most mornings we don't have to be out the door at a set time. Instead of the 5 minutes or so it would take me to get them all undressed and dressed, it takes upwards of 15 minutes. It goes like this, "Nope, 1 leg in each leghole. Try again, you put your foot in at the waist, not thru the foot. Nope, your underwear is on backwards. Oops, your arm is thru the neck. Uh oh, get both feet sticking out of your pants before you try to stand up. Keep pulling...get your undies over your bottom. Ok, put your hand here and keep yanking up on those pants." TIMES THREE.

We don't even attempt socks or shoes. The kids can take (or try to take) their shoes off, but on...no way. We are also working on getting jackets off. Again, on...well, another time.

At bedtime it is the same deal, but normally they are watching their bit of tv for the day as they get undressed and pj's on...so it takes even longer. Clearly they have to learn to do this, and I know it will take time to learn...in the meantime, I am practicing being patient!
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