Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese

Okay,

So this is a rather humorous problem, if it is a problem at all, but I was
interested in getting some input. My 3.7 yo son, Nicky, is getting more
interested in using the toilet on a more regular basis. He's peed and
pooped in it since before he was two, but never for very long in terms of
number of days in a row. Recently, he's decided to have "naked days" more
and not use a diaper. He doesn't have accidents, really, but he's taken to
doing something I'd like to call "creative peeing"... the other day for
instance, I hadn't seen him use the toilet in a bit and I asked him if he
needed to go. He said Very Proudly, "It's okay, Mama. I had to go so I
peed in the Bob The Builder Box (and so he had). I pretended it was the
potty." Hmmmmm. Not wanting to burst his bubble at all, but also hoping we
weren't starting any kind of trend, I said "Wow, really. Interesting. Do
you think next time you can get to the toilet with your pee?" And he
cheerfully replied "Okay!"

Well yesterday (another naked day) he came into the living room and joyfully
declared "Mama, I peed on a TOWEL!" like that was the best thing, ever and
quite proud of his accomplishmemt he was too. The towel was in fact right
in the bathroom, and then later he peed on another one.

So my question is how would y'all handle this? I'm trying to remain fairly
neutral and just ride it out but I'm not sure if he's going to suddenly just
start peeing on lots of different things for fun. I guess my dilemna is
that the unschooler in me is having a hard time not being really excited and
laughing at his creativity and excitement, while on the other hand, having
him start to experimentally pee all over the house doesn't seem like a lot
of fun for dh and me (although likely the dog will love it).

DS has taken lately to falling asleep at night in the living room watching a
video, and last night was the first time he was naked when I made sure he
had his flashlight and got his video set up before heading to bed myself.
He said "Mama, can you bring me a towel in case I have to pee?" LOL. All
of a sudden I remembered the defunct port-a-potty we had disassembled ages
ago. I reassembled it and put it in the room for him and he got really
excited - he could pee while watching his video! I'm hoping that might
replace the towel thing (although that's not related to the video watching
btw - the other times he did it he was not watching a video), but I'm a bit
concerned that it'll just be one more new spot to pee until something more
exciting comes along, KWIM?

And is this a boy thing? DD never did this.

Joan

************************
"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than
live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." ... Harry
Emerson Fosdick

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In a message dated 9/28/2004 10:02:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
salgenovese@... writes:

I guess my dilemna is
that the unschooler in me is having a hard time not being really excited and
laughing at his creativity and excitement, while on the other hand, having
him start to experimentally pee all over the house doesn't seem like a lot
of fun for dh and me (although likely the dog will love it).<<<<

I was going to ask whether you had a dog or cat. This would be a good "out".

I'd tell him that the dog might (and it's very possible!) get the idea that
it was OK to potty everywhere too. Dogs will pee over others' pee----and you
don't want the dog to start peeing in the house! It would help out a lot if
the son would aim for the toilet--or a tree! <g> That would help keep the dog
housetrained.

~Kelly









[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kelly Muzyczka

>
>And is this a boy thing? DD never did this.
>
>Joan

Oh, so glad it's not just us. Our current fav location is off the back
deck---INTO THE NEIGHBORS YARD!!!!!


Kelly
I love mankind, it's people I can't stand. --Linus

sandy lubert

The pee posts are cracking me up. We have 3 boys, and I have lots of
pee stories (when Inspector Gadget came out my son would whip his
penis out anywhere and yell, "Go go gadget HOSE" and then pee).
Suggestion: put a bowl of cheerios on the back of the toilet. Tell
him to put one in the toilet and aim for the center as he pees
(target practise). It might just seem "fun" enough to lure him in
when he has to go...
Just an idea.
- Sandy, who spends a lot of her days cleaning up pee and thinks her
own boys could use some target practise!! :(

Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese

"Message: 5
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 02:54:22 -0000
From: "sandy lubert" <slubert@...>
Subject: Re: Creative Peeing

The pee posts are cracking me up. We have 3 boys, and I have lots of
pee stories (when Inspector Gadget came out my son would whip his
penis out anywhere and yell, "Go go gadget HOSE" and then pee).
Suggestion: put a bowl of cheerios on the back of the toilet. Tell
him to put one in the toilet and aim for the center as he pees
(target practise). It might just seem "fun" enough to lure him in
when he has to go...
Just an idea.
- Sandy, who spends a lot of her days cleaning up pee and thinks her
own boys could use some target practise!! :("

Thanks, Sandy,

I love your Inspector Gadget story. I don't think the cheerio idea will
work since he pees sitting down if he's on the potty (dh does, so that's
probably why) - I could give him the idea to stand up, but that seems like
inviting more creative target practice if you know what I mean. On the
other hand, I wonder if the fact he associates the potty with sitting down
means that he's more interested in peeing on other things so that he can do
the standing and "aiming" thing ... hmmmmm. Just occured to me. Maybe I
should tell him he can aim into the potty too and go ahead and get some
cheerios.

I like Kelly's idea about talking about keeping the dog housetrained! Well,
I'll keep both in mind in case he starts getting creative again. Right now,
he's in love with the port-a-potty - only thing is, my daughter decided it
was more interesting than peeing in the toilet too so I'm washing out that
cup a LOT. But hey, it's better than ten loads of towels..LOL.

Joan