Chase the great!

We always judged Jack to be our "less dramatic" one between him and Sadie. He was even keeled in desperate times when his sister was usually going ballistic. He was Jack, always "along for the ride" right? WRONG!!!!! Jack showed us some new sides to him this summer that we never knew existed. His favorite word became "NO" and it was said with much determination and stubbornness. I'll have to hand it to Sadie on this one. When she was little and she wanted a toy from the store I could easily dissuade her by saying the "toy wants to stay here with his family." This made perfect sense to her. Jack has had many a tantrum lately over what he can't have at the store. He also doesn't give up. He often reminds me of the little brother on "A Christmas Story" who WILL NOT eat his vegetables and sits at the table for hours until his mom gives up.  Jack WILL NOT eat spinach and if we're having a dinner he doesn't like, it doesn't matter what we bribe him with, he WILL NOT budge. 

Enter potty training.  We have had a VERY long summer trying to tackle this one.

We started a couple of months before we left for Utah in June.  He was fantastic at going pee on the potty and rather enjoyed the experience.  I decided that when he was done with his diapers I wasn't going to buy anymore.  So we pretty much went cold turkey on him and put him straight into Lightning McQueen "big boy pants" to get him even more excited.  He had a couple of accidents here and there but soon realized it was better to use the potty than to get all wet.  We noticed it had been a few days since he had gone poop and he was starting to complain about stomach aches and wanting to be held all the time.  He was obviously scared to try this step in potty training.   He would constantly stand around holding his bum thinking this would somehow contain the inevitable.  Eventually he couldn't hold it any more and we stuck him on the potty for it.  You'd think this would have felt so good after two days of holding it that you'd automatically want to do it again.  The opposite happened.  Jack was TRAUMATIZED by the whole experience. 

This is when he decided it would be WAY better to just hold it in all day and go through three pull-ups at night to finally get it all out.  We then went to Utah and kept trying.  The same thing happened over and over again.  He would hold it for a few days and sometimes couldn't wait until we put a pull-up on at night to release.  We got him to go on the Etherington potty once and the Cannon potty once but had several pooping accidents in between.  We tried to keep it positive but after cleaning out the fifth pair of underwear (YUCK) Chase and I were spent!!  He was starting to get fevers from holding it in too long and was so unhappy.  Anywhere we went he wanted to be held and complained about his stomach.  I finally called the pediatrician and she said to try putting Mirolax in his oatmeal or using a suppository.  These both sounded very invasive so I put them on the back burner for a few days. 

Then Chase went back to work in Texas and I was alone in Utah.  One night I was so desperate after hearing him scream from pain and feeling his sweaty head that I ran to Smith's and as determined as can be purchased both Mirolax and suppositories.  He was going to poo no matter what!!  He was at the point where he didn't know what was good for him anymore.  Those ten minutes in that bathroom just about put me over the edge.  He had a suppository but wouldn't sit on the potty.  I knew it was only a matter of time before we had a very smelly mess all over the floor so I forced him on the toilet and boy did that kid wail!!!  He was trying SOOOO hard to keep it in and it was trying even harder to come out.  Poop won and I burst into tears!!!  Hearing Jack scream like that was so unexpected.  It was like he was being tortured and I was seriously worried he was going to pop a blood vessel or have a 3 year old heart attack!  This is about when I decided it was time to cut our trip short and we soon booked flights back to Texas.  Jack was obviously even more traumatized and we were back at square one.

The beginning of preschool was looming at the front of my mind.  He had to be potty trained for preschool and we were NO WAY near this accomplishment.  We spent days and days inside the house letting him run around nude.  He was great going pee pee but terrified of his poop.  It was totally wiping the kid out!! One day I was in my room with George when Chase came home and found Jack completely asleep on the stairs.  He looked incredibly uncomfortable but this obviously wasn't an issue for him anymore seeing he didn't mind being totally constipated. 


Eventually we got REALLY sick of cleaning poop.  He would go upstairs and poop in his room.  I had to watch him like a hawk and if I ever lost track of him for a minute he was up in his room again doing the dirty deed.  Chase and I decided the suppository was a bad idea.  It was probably what heightened his fear so much.  We then had the bright idea to make Jack clean up his own  diapers.  We told him we didn't have any his size, only baby George's size.  He would happily wear them and happily poop in them too.  He would then ask to be changed and we told him if he wanted to poop in diapers, he was going to have to clean it up.  He had poop on his hands and he went through 7-8 baby wipes at a time and still he preferred this over the lovely porcelain toilet that flushes all your troubles away. 

I was getting desperate.  There were many tears in the Cannon household.  Sadie was bored and sent off to friends houses and Jack, George, and I stayed home. There was one day I spent 3.....I repeat 3 hours in the bathroom with him during George's nap.  He had to go and we weren't leaving the room until he did.  I bought Cars toilet seats, more underwear.  I bribed with excavators and Mack trucks but Jack was just too scared to claim any of these. After scouring Pinterest and reading every book on parenting in the house I finally searched the one book that always pulls through.  You got it!!  The Book of Mormon.  True there's nothing in there about potty training and how to tackle the terrible threes but it gave me a totally different perspective.  It calmed me down.  I stopped yelling at Jack.  I had the spirit with me.  I was able to sit in that bathroom for three hours with out going completely insane.  Change was on it's way and blessing were coming.  They had to!!

Then little Chase Darger came over to play.  He was potty training as well and having poop accidents of his own at home.  These two LOVE each other and think the other is about the coolest thing on the planet.  They were upstairs playing and while I was blogging downstairs Sadie came down to inform me that they had painted nail polish on many of his toy cars.  This made me pretty mad and I put them both in time out.  Luckily for them I had been reading my scriptures or they really would have been in trouble.  Jack started complaining that his "bum hurt" and he wanted to be held.  I stuck him on the potty and told him he couldn't get off until he pooped.  Julie gave me the Love and Logic book to read and I started giving him choices.  "Do you want me to close the door while you scream or would you like to stop screaming and I'll keep the door open?"  After many times asking this he finally chose the latter and stopped screaming.  I then asked him if he wanted a little privacy or if he wanted me to stay with him?  Before he could answer I was needed upstairs and I ran up to see what was going on.  Jack protested and I yelled down that he could come play with Chase if he pooped on the potty.

Well, forget a new excavator, a Mack truck, froot loops, Reese's peanut butter cups, and bribes galore.  We found Jack's reward worth fighting for......CHASE!!!  He would do absolutely anything to play with this kid....even face the most devastating thing in the entire Jack universe...POOP ON THE POTTY!!  Then I heard a sweet voice from downstairs.."Mommy, I'm all done. I went poo poo on the potty."  WHAT!!!!  I ran down to make sure and he did!! ALL BY HIMSELF!!  I showered him with kisses, hugs and high fives.  Chase came down and had a good look in the potty while Jack stood back proudly as if to say.."yep..that's my poop."  Then the most incredible thing happened.  Chase said he wanted to go too.  So up he went on the potty and there were cheers all around that tiny little bathroom. Hooray for Jack and Chase!!  Forget that you just got nail polish all over your cars and on the carpet.  You did what we've been trying to accomplish for THREE MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!   

Jack is now potty trained.  That's it!  After the long summer of sitting in that bathroom we finally have a sensible and "along for the ride" little Jack back.  His nasty attitude emerges every once in a while but mostly he's been a delight ever since. 
So to make a VERY LONG story short, never underestimate the power of reading your scriptures daily and the super hero"ness" of a little three year old named Chase.  What took me three months to attempt took him a play date.  Thanks for training my kid little Darger!