Potty Time

Right now I'm sitting on the step stool in the bathroom giving both Seth and Evany moral support as they hang out on their respective potties.

Yes, I have a three and a half year old who isn't completely potty trained yet. 


It is what it is. We started just before school started and it has just been a slow process. He does a great job at school and during the day but we just cannot seem to conquer the poop. If this had happened when I was younger and only had Ava or Jace, I would have felt humiliated. Ava potty trained before she turned two and I remember feeling a little smug about it. Then Jace trained a little later, at about two and a half, but it took just a few days and he was good to go.

I think I was due a more complicated potty training journey, and I am definitely on it! I could be stressed out but instead I figure he will most likely be 100% potty trained before he goes off to school, and when has Seth ever done anything easily anyway? (Never is the answer to that, in case you were wondering).

The perk, I guess, is that Evany is now showing lots of readiness signs so they get to work on these new skills together. The reward for me will be going from having three in diapers to just one! Evany is working on a new record for sitting on the potty, I think...she just asked if she could move her potty to the living room so she could watch "'Pets." (Wonder Pets)

John's off finishing up the floor he's been installing at my aunt and uncle's house. He's finished his first week at the new job and while I think things have been crazy because the distribution center is still being built, he seems to really be enjoying himself.

Coen just had a well visit at the pediatrician and he's doing good! Long and relatively lean with a huge head. I thought he was doing great developmentally...he's sitting up on his own and beginning to crawl, rolling all over the place, and just generally strong. But apparently because he's not yet playing peek a boo or waving bye-bye the doctor was concerned that he was delayed. I didn't realize those were even six month milestones (his adjusted age). At first, I felt pretty bad about missing the memo that those things were a 7-9 month skill, but when the doctor wanted to have him evaluated for services because of it I got a little frustrated. It felt like overkill.


 Early Intervention services have been a Godsend for Seth and Evany, but it took well over a month to get each one of them evaluated when they desperately needed it because of how overloaded the early intervention system gets. Unless there is a major disability involved, each child is required to have a 20% delay in more than one area before they are eligible for services. Coen meets every milestone on the 7-9 months chart except for the line "Plays Peekaboo/Waves Bye-Bye". I don't think that one empty check box when he isn't even technically classified as 7 months old yet is a red flag. There are so many kids out there who need services that I just can't call the evaluator up with a straight face and say that my doctor is concerned because my kid doesn't play peekaboo yet.

I hate disagreeing with doctors. But if life with Seth has taught me nothing else, it's that I know my kids better than anyone else. One fifteen minute appointment when you've met the baby all of one time before is not long enough to decide he is delayed. I have delayed kids! I know what that looks like. As of now Coen isn't one of them. After I discussed all of that with her, she told me to bring him back in a month, and in the meantime to really work on his peekaboo and waving skills, and that we would 'reevaluate' then.

I'm by no means an expert, and I put great faith in a doctor's knowledge, but I'm feeling a little frustrated. Our last pediatrician was so great about making everything a joint decisions and conversation. She presented the options, told me her opinion, and asked for mine. I don't really get that in this practice, and I hated walking out of the office feeling like a bad parent because I turned down services Coen doesn't need right now.

Wow, that got a little ranty, huh? We all have colds and may be going a little stir crazy, so I'll use that as my excuse.  I'm off to put the kids to bed and cuddle with my supposedly developmentally delayed baby who is currently rolling/creeping/crawling his way down the hallway after his brothers and sisters.

Have a great weekend!