What Makes Him Tick?!

Little Man---that's the "him" I'm referring to in this case. He has once again completely and utterly befuddled me! Yesterday, I stayed home from church with the boys because they both have over-productive noses (Helloooo, Kleenex---or, the ever popular shirt sleeve OR even better... MY shirtsleeve!) and nasty coughs. So Sam took the girlie off to church while Little Man, Tank, and I stayed behind.

I was cleaning up breakfast in the kitchen while Little Man was playing contentedly in his bedroom. We had enjoyed 2 successes on the potty already so life was seeming pretty good. Out of the blue in marches Little Man...with an obvious purpose in mind. He marched right up to the refrigerator...home to all kinds of paraphernalia including his "potty chart" complete with quite a few stickers from this past week. He rips the chart off the computer, and before I can even respond, he has crumpled it up and stuffed it FAR into the depths of the trash can. And NOTHING...I mean NOTHING comes out of our trash can after it goes in...remember we have a baby STILL in diapers...UCK!

I was shocked...dumbfounded...

What prompted this? What brought on this revolt of sorts? What does this mean? Will I be designing teen sized Pull Ups...for real?!?!?

After his business with the trash can, he went back to his room to play. When Sam got back from church, I told him of Little Man's successes on the potty. His response, "Did he get stickers for his chart?!" In his best cheery daddy voice...y'know the one...please don't let my kid still be wearing diapers in kindergarten voice! Well, um...er...umm...no...

I relayed the story to Sam of Little Man's seemingly triumphant entry into the kitchen and the ultimate destruction of THE "potty chart." His response... "WHY?!?!?" Yeah, my exact same thoughts.

And here was my answer in a nutshell, "If I knew WHY---he would be potty trained already! I'd KNOW how to motivate him." What makes Little Man tick? I'm still trying to figure it out, and I'm pretty sure I still will be when he's 53 too!

I am happy to say that the destruction of the stickers and their chart have not prevented his continued work towards success. I HAVE found that gum is an excellent incentive for him, and there has been no more mention of stickers or potty charts.

What will he think of or do next? Life...never boring...always puzzling! :)