Gus, my little paradox

Life with Gus tends to be predictably one step forward, two steps back. Potty training has been just one example of this. We began in September and had fairly quick success with getting him to pee on the toilet, at least sometimes. But as I've written, No. 2 was an entirely different story. It was a months-long process to get him to his first time pooping on the toilet.

Even after Gus had begun to poop on the toilet once in a while, it was by no means smooth sailing. We vociferously cheered his successes, bought him rewards, but try though we might, we could not get him to go on the toilet consistently. We even stationed a little potty seat in the basement, his chosen place to hide out and poop. It worked for a while, but soon enough the novelty wore off, and he was back to having accidents.

My youngest is just a breed entirely his own. Accepting that he's a little trickier, more demanding, and yes, sometimes maddening, has been a life-long process - specifically the three years, eight months and four days he's been alive. Each day, I have to remind myself to proceed with realistic expectations. I've been reading "Raising Your Spirited Child," and a lot of what the author outlines describes Gus perfectly. Spirited kids are just more - more everything - demanding, sensitive, loud. Yup, that's him.

Gus's penchant for getting what he wants and making mischief is endless. If, for example, he wants a snack and I'm in the bathroom, he doesn't bother waiting for me. I'll hear the tell-tale sound of chair scraping across floor, and I'll know exactly what he's doing. And let me tell you, the boy does not like to be ignored. One day I decided to do an intensive clean of the basement. He wandered upstairs and made a mess of putting lots and lots of toilet paper into the toilet. Another day, while I was working on something, he climbed onto the counter and dumped out a whole container of cinnamon sugar. It doesn't even surprise me anymore. Pulling out a whole box of tissues, unrolling TP, "Come on!" I want to scream. "This is 2-year-old stuff! You're better than this!"

On the flip side is everything that's great about Gus. Our lives surely would be much duller without him around. He is most likely to make anyone in this house laugh. While Ben and Paul tend to be shy and reserved around people they don't know, Gus is charming and gregarious, sticking out his hand at the peace greeting at church, calling out to people, "Bye! Have a nice day!" as we leave the Y. Grandparents receive huge hugs and kisses from Gus. The spirited child book encourages parents to look at their kids' traits in a more positive light, and that totally makes sense to me. Without Gus, we'd be a group of four fairly quiet people, and what fun would that be? Besides, just when I think something like potty training will never end, a breakthrough happens. Gus has, unprompted, pooped on the toilet three times since last night!