Tobey: Attention getting

After a week and a half (or was it two and a half?) of no accidents, Tobey just peed on the floor.

Rewind for a little background, yesterday he woke up from his nap with a terrible cough which later turned into a lot of congestion. He's been whiny and helpless all morning, much to my annoyance. I feel like I should be more sympathetic to him being sick but I just don't understand why he has to cry when he experiences snot. He didn't really want to eat breakfast and so opted instead just to lay around on the futon. He has wet two t-shirts (but not his underwear), claiming he peed on the futon but I only find small wet spots. I'm perplexed but whatever.

He pooed in the potty during which time he proceeded to drive me absolutely nuts. Eli is sleeping and Tobey disobeyed every word I said about being quiet, whispering, not stomping, etc. I gave him the useless stern talk because that's the only thing I can think of that will make me feel better about his disobedience and not set him off ballistic and crying. He returns to the dining room to eat breakfast.

After he declares all done, he gets down to get wipe his hands when I hear the unpleasant trickle of pee on the floor. He stands there and watches himself pee. CLEARLY a power thing, clearly an attention getter. This is where I am truly tested. Every fiber in me wants to yell at him, accuse him, belittle him, blame him, be sarcastic. But 1) Eli's sleeping. 2) It doesn't work on him even though it helps me let out pressure. And oh yeah 3) don't want to leave an emotional scar on my child. Almost forgot that part.

I can't say I was calm when giving him a towel and a Clorox wipe to clean up. More like, I was emotionless, purposely staying distant, trying as much as I could not to get sucked into his power and attention game. Or maybe more so, I was distant because I felt helpless and I had no idea what to do except call Tom and express frustration. Ever since I was young and fighting with Andrew, I am so easily sucked into battle. But I want to stop getting sucked in. Ironically, not for the well-being of my kids, but more so for my ego.

It's only 11:30AM.