Monday, March 3, 2008

Standing Up

Last week the whole family was getting ready for a quick trip to the in-laws' house. The hubs said, "I gotta use the bathroom first." Whatever, I walked away and finished up a few things and this is what I heard:

Little Man: "Daddy, you're standing up to potty?"
Hubs: "Yep."
Little Man: "Mommy, Daddy is standing up to Potty."
Me: "Yes. Sometimes boys stand to go potty."

I knew the day would come when Little Man would want to stand to potty, but I was really hoping it would be awhile. Here's the thing - I'm not trying to squelch what boys do naturally, however, boys dribble! There's nothing I dislike more than cleaning dribble. The truth of the matter is, I am so vocal about my dislike for dribble that the hubs got tired of hearing about it and starting sitting. Can I get and Amen and Hallelujiah??? Why in the world he chose to stand that night, I don't know.

Nothing came of Little Man seeing the Hubs stand and pee. Nothing until a week later...

We had just finished dinner and it was bath night. Here's what happened:

Me: "Let me clean your hands before you get down. Then we can go upstairs for a bath. What color bath do you want?"
Little Man: "Purple."
Me: "Okay. Follow me into the mud room, so we can carry the towels upstairs."
Little Man: "Okay, Mama."
Me: Handing Little Man a towel, "You take this one and we will use it for your bath. I'll take this pile."
Little Man: "Okay."

Then we headed upstairs for the fun that is bathtime.

Me: At the top of the stairs, "Go into the bathroom and get undressed. I'm going to put these towels in my room."
Little Man: No response, but he walked into the bathroom.

I proceeded to my room and piled the towels in the linen closet. I walked back to his bathroom and was greeted in the hall by Little Man with is pants and undies down at his ankles:

Little Man: "I just peed standing up, Mama."
Me: "You did what?"
Little Man: "I just peed standing up."

I immediately checked the floor for puddles - assuming that he peed on the floor. I didn't find anything, so I went to the toilet and found the seat down and the lid closed (amazing!). I lifted the lid and sure enough, he peed in the toilet. He had, of course, dribbled on the seat and he forgot to flush...but he actually peed in the toilet whilst standing.

It was game on after that and sitting to pee is no longer and option. Following the first time, I gave him a lesson in standing to pee - I may not be an expert in the field, but I plan to raise a courteous male urinator. He now knows to raise the lid and seat. Aim at cheerios (Thanks Mom - that was added by her arrival yesterday), pull off some toilet paper and wipe himself, close the seat and lid, then flush. Now, the only thing left to teach him is to clean the dribble from the floor when that happens. I assume an almost 3 year is still too young to be using mr. clean wipes (you know dangerous chemicals and all), so I guess that lesson will need to wait.

8 comments:

Life As I Know It said...

Yay! Congratulations! I don't think my son stood up to pee until he was close to 4.
And my almost 3 year old? Wants nothing to do with potty training. Ah well, all in good time, I guess.

Rebecca said...

You lucky girl! I got my kid to pee in the potty this weekend, but only once...and standing up, forget it! LOL!!! Congrats!

kheatherg said...

Peeking out of hiding to say.... I know about the dribble! I hate the dribble! But thankfully, my husband is a sitter most of the time. (Unless he's in public)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your son's accomplishment! It does get better--the dribbling I mean.

Fratzels said...

i wonder if daycare will congratulate me on this milestone? They have lower toilets than my extra tall ones (which were necessary for my 6'3" hubs).

My hubs - who does not read my blog on a daily basis would probabl be so annoyed with me letting the world (or my 5 readers a day) know that he sits to pee. For some reason, this seems to be tied to his masculinity!

Queen of the Mayhem said...

I am with you on the dribble thing. I HATE IT! The other day I caught Junior Mayhem tee-teeing into the cup that his sister uses after she brushes her teeth!

I shudder to think if I had not seen him do it!


Boys are gross!!!!!!!!!!! :)

twinklemom said...

Congratulations! Oh wow..Mama, that is a major milestone there!!

Hard part though is teaching them to lower the lid...something about guys and lids...

It's like it's genetically encoded that they don't lower them so the other females in the house drop into a dark cavernous, WET, hole in the middle of the night while still half asleep. Sigh.......

If I can figure out how to train the therapy needing dog to sniff out lower lids and lower them while alerting TwinkieMomma in the middle of the night to the lurking danger, I think may have a 4 legged goldmine or, just a dog that needs therapy all the more.

Anonymous said...

He may be too young for Mr. Clean wipes, but he's not too young to wipe the dribble with a wad of TP. That's the rule in my house: you pee standing up, you wipe up any misses. LOL! Now if I could just get the missers to actually do it...