It's That Time Again......

 

Yep, the days are rapidly ticking down toward Elijah’s 2^nd birthday, and my ‘finally get out of the diaper stage’ itch is getting more noticable.  So, in a moment of insanity, I decided to start potty training Elijah last week.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I had just started up the new term of homeschooling with the kids and was still struggling to get back into the swing of things with teacing 4 different grade levels at the same time.  But Elijah was waking up regularly with a dry diaper in the mornings and my thrifty self just thought, “If I get him to the potty now, I can keep using the clean diaper for several more hours.”  So I began to potty train him.

 

My enthusiasm was very short lived when reality sunk in and a super-hydrated little boy who needed to be watched constantly kept making puddles because I had 4 other kids I was trying to teach new math concepts to, or listen to their reading, or teach a new letter of the alphabet to.  So about halfway through the morning the diaper went back on. 

 

But, once I get that taste of diaper freedom, it’s hard to not stop thinking about it and moving toward it!  So, in the week following that first attempt I have kept half-heartedly potty training.  I know, I know, not quite the way it’s supposed to be done, especially if you follow the “Potty Training in One Day” method.  But I don’t think the people who wrote that book had four other children to care for and homeschool!  I finally got to the point where it’s just easier to let E run around naked, but since we’re in the village, that’s perfectly acceptable.  In fact, my toddlers are probably the most-dressed kids the people here have ever seen!  I would say that up until probably Julianne’s age (4ish) most kids just run around naked.  So letting E just run around “as nating” (ass nothing= naked) as we say in Tok Pisin, is perfectly acceptable.  (And as an added bonus, it sure cuts down on all the laundry from any accidents!)

 

I think we’re not quite there yet…. (my kids tend to follow the “Potty Train in 2 Weeks” or even the “Potty Train in 6 years” plans), but I’ve seen some encouraging signs this week!  My goal is that by the time we head back to Ukarumpa in about a month, I will be done with diapers for good! =)  So we’ll see if that really happens, but it sure would be nice.