The Porcelain Throne and some other stuff… *UPDATED*

Landen is POTTY TRAINED! He is wearing big boy underwear to school every day now. He tells us when he needs to go potty, even when we are out running errands (though the time between the warning and the act is still rather brief). It has really given us a new perspective on every store/home/etc we step foot in, as we instantly search for the nearest potty, especially as we are working on our “early warning system.” I’m just so proud of how well Landen has done! Now, we just need to get him to put the lid down for Brayden’s sake…

Brayden, as previously mentioned here, is EXTREMELY curious about the potty (among other things). I blame this on the fact that for the last few months we have put such an emphasis on potty training for Landen… talking about the potty, running to the potty, rewards for going potty, taking the potty with us on excursions, etc.

*Note: We DO attempt to baby proof our house (including the toilets), but you would have to meet Brayden to fully grasp how quick, sneaky, and crafty he is!*

Unfortunately, this fascination has led to some interesting events. There have been a couple instances of Brayden getting to the potty before Keith or I could stop him, when he decided to splash around in the toilet water. Once he snuck into the bathroom while eating a banana, apparently wanting the banana to swim… thanks to Landen’s screaming, “Banana in da potty!! Brudder put da banana in da potty!!” we were able to flush the drowning banana BEFORE Brayden was able to retrieve it to continue his snack! We have caught Brayden throwing entire rolls of toilet paper into the toilet, pushing Landen off the toilet, attempting to climb IN the toilet, and playing with bath toys in the toilet. This weekend, however, reached a whole new realm of potty play…

First, let me set the scene. Keith and I were having a deep conversation and cooking dinner. Brayden was playing with the train set (about 10 feet away from us), and Landen had gone to sit on the potty. Normally, we keep the bathroom door closed to prevent Brayden from entering. Landen, for obvious reasons, leaves the bathroom door opened when he’s in there. Aside from the occasional attempt to push Landen of the toilet, Brayden generally leaves the toilet alone when Landen’s using it. 

Sunday was the exception. 

Brayden managed to drop one of the train cars, from their train set, into the toilet as Landen was reaching to flush the potty. Now this is not a very small train car. We’re talking 4 ½ inches long, 2 inches tall, and about 1 ¼ inches wide. We hear the toilet flush and then we hear Landen scream. Keith went running to save the day and the screaming continued even after Keith reached the scene, “Bwayden put da train in da potty!!! Da train in da potty!!! MOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY!!! DDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDYYYYYYY!! Da train is gone!! It’s gone!!”

Keith looked in the toilet and couldn't see anything. I approach (cautiously) and as I do, Landen is explains to me that the train is under the potty now.” I enter the bathroom and start looking under the toilet (I mean that’s where Landen said it is… I follow directions well) and see nothing. I look in the toilet… nothing. Keith and I stand there for a minute, Brayden HAD been playing with the train set, but there was no train car in site. The toilet was not overflowing at all and honestly, how could a train car THAT size get flushed into the exceptionally small toilet hole? We just looked at each other, perplexed. We were trying to figure out if a train car entered the toilet at all or if Brayden just attempted to put it in and then took it somewhere else. I was beginning to think it was the latter.

I get a brilliant idea; I’ll try flushing the toilet again to see if anything seems unusual. YEP! There was definitely SOMETHING blocking the flush and the water rose to the top of the bowl. Great. So I do what any young parent does… I called MY parents. My dad instructed me to stick my hand into the toilet hole and see if I could feel the train car. Nope, I could barely get 3 of my fingers into that hole and all I felt was just toilet water and porcelain. He said if that didn’t work, to get a hanger, make a hook, and try to fish it out. Keith tried with no luck. I called my dad again, desperately hoping to hear some ingenious solution. He said if we still don’t have any luck, then we would have to pull the toilet out of the floor. You have GOT to be kidding me! At this, I decide that I am GOING to get this dang train car out of the toilet with a hanger no matter what! I got some pliers and made a smaller hook on the hanger, I bent the hanger to make it go up and around the plumbing curve, and dangit I was going to find that train car! After some serious finagling and thoroughly covering my arms/clothes/toilet/wall with toilet water I FINALLY hooked and pulled that train car out!

The hook

the (cleaned) train car

The train car

The guilty party (with daddy)

You can call me supermom, but please don’t EVER call me to pull something out of a toilet. I have crossed that off my bucket list and you can call a plumber.

By the way, I cut Landen's hair... I never should have done it. It took the kid a full 2 years to actually get enough hair to have his first hair cut and then one year later I cut it all off... brilliant.

At least he doesn't mind the short hair...

***Update***

This happened last night (Thursday, 6/6/13), while Landen was getting the broom out of the bathroom closet to "clean up"...

Mommy's shoe + big mess