Anyone Seen Jack and Why Do I Hear Water Running?

That title is a bit of a mouthful, but it perfectly describes the picture I am about to show you. I almost don't need to give you any details... but I will!

A couple days ago, Jack was sitting on the living room floor, busy stripping from the waist down. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I need to go potty! Taking pants off!"

Well, great! As I neared him to help with the process, he put his hand up and said, "No help, mom. I do it self!"

Even better! Although I knew this could make a slight mess, I admired his determination and decided it was worth it for him to learn to do this without me. I stepped back and let him finish undressing, walk his naked buns into the bathroom, and shut the door. Just before he shut it completely, he stuck his little face through the crack in the door and said, "Stay mom. Need privacy."

I must have been blinded by my excitement over his desire to do this alone. I normally would have immediately been suspicious by all his attempts to be alone in the bathroom with the door shut.

Not only did I not get suspicious, I actually forgot about him in there, as I got busy doing things with the other boys, making dinner, etc.

About 10 minutes later, I noticed the sound of water running. I immediately though "Mitchell!" but he was with me. The next thing I said was, "Has anyone seen Jack?" We opened the door to the bathroom and there he was, naked from the waist down still, toilet lid open, pee in the toilet (and not on the floor yay!) standing on the stool by the sink with a sink overflowing with bubbles and an empty soap dispenser in his hand.

I do have to hand it to him for going pee all on his own. How did I miss his intentions though, when I know how badly he wants to play with that soap? It did keep him occupied and out of my hair for a good 10 minutes though. I considered pretending I didn't see it at all...

Super Pooper

The other day, the boys were all three down in the basement without me. They insisted I not be there so that they could have all the lights off. They love to play in the dark, scary basement with no lights on. I don't get it. It just makes me sleepy. So they know that if mom is around, at least one light has to be on, hence the reason I was kicked out. Fine with me.

Well, it turns out, they were playing super heroes. I forget who Ben and Mitchell were, but Jack's superhero name was Super Pooper! I remember it because it was a funny name, but also because he has now added that to his list of acceptable names we may address him as; as in "Super Pooper is hungry! Super Pooper want milk!" I kinda miss Mooksy, but Super Pooper has now become a bit more applicable actually.

Through no real effort of my own, Jack is insisting on using his little potty. If we are in the house and he has to go, he runs up to me and says, "I gotta poop! Need potty!" Most of the time, I am ashamed to admit, I tell him to just go in his diaper. I'm sorry, but I'm just not in the mood to potty train right now! How terrible is that!? The problem is that I like being able to be out and about for hours at a time without worrying about where the closest toilet is.

Well, mom may be dragging her feet, but Ben and Mitchell are all about this. Just now, Mitchell came booking it down the stairs to tell me that Jack needed to poop but couldn't get his pants down. "Come help quick, mom!" Sure enough, I got his clothes off and he proceeded to fill that little potty while Mitchell did the same on the toilet right next to him. After they finished pooping and having quite a lengthy conversation about poop, Mitchell dug around in his drawer for some old undies that he insisted Jack was ready for. I admit, he looks pretty cute with his Lightning McQueen bottom...

It must be nice to be my boys. Can you imagine getting this excited over pooping together? Perhaps I won't actually have to potty train Jack after all - I can just let my big boys take over this time! For now though, I'm curious to see how Super Pooper does in his undies...

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

Every time I walk into one of my bathrooms, it smells like urine. I know what you are thinking: "clean your bathrooms more often, lady!" I promise you, the problem is not my lack of toilet cleaning. The problem lies with my middle son. Suddenly, he has taken on the habit of not flushing the toilet. Seems like he remembers to do it if he does more than pee, but I feel like every time I open a toilet lid to use it myself, the water is already yellow.

Who told him "if it's yellow let it mellow?" Certainly not me, the only one responsible for smells and dirt and cleaning in the house. We aren't conserving water here, Mitchell. Flush the stinkin' toilet!

I Can't Use That!

My boys always wait until the last possible second to use the toilet. It sneaks up on them EVERY time! It is a common, daily occurrence in my house to see/hear boys running to the bathroom, fast as the wind, yelling, "I have to go potty! I'm not gonna make it!"

Why do they wait so long? They claim not to know until the last second but my guess is that, just like their mom, they are too busy to waste time with it until they no longer have a choice.

Just what they needed was one more reason to not want to use the toilet - Gramma's toilet is pink! The first time we sent Mitchell down the hall to use the facilities, he came back a few seconds later truly puzzled, exclaiming, "I can't use that! It's a girl potty!"

It's A Good Thing He's Handsome...

We were having toilet troubles a few days back, but trying to get someone out here to take care of things for us, as is our right as renters, was not working out well for us, so my loving handyman husband took matters into his own hands (with a little prodding from his loving wife.)

One trip to the hardware store and only about 10 minutes of messing around in the bathroom later, he had successfully fixed the toilet problem!  Or so I thought.  Notice anything wrong with this picture?  No?  Let me show you a close up:

Now do you see it?  I was not the first to discover Matt's handy-work; Ben was, and he discovered in true "Ben style."  He went in to use the toilet, but after doing his "duty," he turned around to flush and was momentarily paralyzed.  Something was not right here and he did not like it.  "Mom!  Something is wrong with the toilet!  It looks funny and I don't know what to do!"

Yes, the handle has been put on upside down.  It does take a bit of getting used to to flush your toilet upside down.  You almost have to re-learn how to pull the flusher up instead of the life-long habit of pushing down.  This is just so funny to me that I insisted he leave it as it is.  I LOVE that he fixed the flushing problem for me and putting it on this way has only added to the amount of smiles and chuckles I get in in a day.  Thank you, my loving husband for "fixing" things for me.  Yes, you are handier than I sometimes give you credit for, but not quite as handy as you might think you are :)

Atta Boy!

Ben is a lingerer in the bathroom.  He really likes to take his time to fully appreciate the entire process.  Who knows, maybe that is where he comes up with some of his more ingenious ideas and schemes.  It could be that he enjoys a little bit of privacy every now and then, which none of us get much of around here.  Whatever his reasons, when nature calls, he really makes the most out of it.  So the other day, when he had run off to use the toilet and hadn't returned 10 minutes later, I didn't really give it much thought, as that is not unusual for him.  After about 15 minutes though, I began to wonder if he had finished and then curled up for a nap somewhere so I walked half way up the stairs and called out to him, asking what he was up to.  He answered, "I'm still in the bathroom!"  When I asked what was taking so long, he said, "Well, I finished a while ago, but I ran out of toilet paper.  So I got a new role out and I'm just trying to figure out how to get it put on here properly!  I keep getting it on backwards so I'm still trying!"

Wow.  I didn't know he was aware of the fact that new toilet paper doesn't just "magically" appear when the old one runs out, let alone know how to replace it himself!  And it wasn't enough for him to replace it, he knew which way was the correct way!  Although I'm positive I've complained about empty toilet paper rolls plenty of times, I'm pretty sure I haven't actually taken the time to teach him this process.  Now if I can just get him to teach this little trick to his dad...

Can't You Keep Your Pants On?

Mitchell has been using the toilet properly for some time now.  However, once he has "done his duty," so to speak, he seems to think the process is through and nothing else is required of him.  Not only to I have to constantly remind him to close the lid, flush the toilet, wash his hands, don't use an entire bottle of soap, and only use the soap to wash his hands and not paint the mirrors, toilet, sink, floors, doors, etc. with it, it seems he has chosen every bathroom break as a great excuse to take all his clothes off!  If I don't immediately catch him, he will take all his clothes off after using the bathroom every single time.  I see more of Mitchell's buns in a given day than I see Jack's, whose diaper I change all day long!  Most of the time, he goes, strips, and then casually returns to whatever he was doing before as if nothing has changed, but sometimes, he gets a bit goofy.  Today, he came down from "quiet time" telling me he needed a hair cut.  He had his shorts and underwear on his head and wanted me to pretend to cut them off, as if they were some wacky hairstyle, rather than clothing that belonged on the opposite end of him.