My oldest son, Tucker, has been potty trained since he was twenty-two months old. We read a potty training book and set off on our mission. It was an intense week and a half, but he’s had very few accidents since. I can’t even recall the last one. He turned three in June, so he’s officially nearly been potty trained longer than he hasn’t.
Except when he’s sleeping.
If/when he naps we always put a diaper on him. This is sheer laziness on our part. We could have “night trained” him while we were doing his potty training. We could have done it any time in the last eighteen months.
I told myself (and Kaitlin) several times that I’d have no problem waking up in the middle of the night, taking him to the bathroom, and pushing the wake-up times back a little bit each night until he learned to hold it. But once your second kid starts sleeping through the night, it’s hard to give up those precious full nights of sleep.
It’s been 109 days since I’ve had a soda.
I’m not a coffee person; I never have been. I don’t need a jolt of caffeine to get me going in the morning. But it wasn’t too long ago that we weren’t getting anything close to a full night’s sleep. It took its toll, and I started finding myself feeling drowsy mid-day.
While we don’t own a coffee maker, Kaitlin has always enjoyed soda so it’s usually around the house. She generally used it to perk up, but sometimes she just craved it. I followed suit, and before I knew it I was drinking a soda every day, sometimes two.
It got the point where even if I wasn’t drowsy I’d start to crave it. Some days I was drinking it simply for the taste(!), choosing it over water because I wanted “something with flavor”.
I kicked this habit, cold-turkey, 109 days ago. I didn’t quit because soda is loaded with chemicals and terrible for my body, even though I knew so and wanted to. I didn’t quit because I wanted to lose weight. We’ve always ever drank the zero-calorie stuff, and if anything I could afford a few extra pounds. I quit because I realized I didn’t need it, and I was using it as a crutch.
If I’m drowsy during the day, I should be getting more sleep. Drinking caffeine is treating the symptom, not the problem. If I wanted something with flavor I should find a healthier option. I now treat myself to a kombucha every other day or so (GT’s is the best).
I used to beg Kaitlin to give up her soda addiction and stop buying it. I figured if it wasn’t in the house I’d be able to quit. Oddly enough, in the last couple months we’ve hardly had any soda in the house. Kaitlin has drastically curbed her consumption.
It wasn’t long ago that we’d have a couple twelve packs of soda in the garage, waiting to be consumed. Our bad habits were fueling one another’s. Every time Kaitlin would go to the garage to get one she’d ask if I wanted one (and vice versa). Good luck turning it down!
Tucker came downstairs a few days ago after his “nap”. He didn’t sleep at all, and he admitted to doing so. That’s fine, Kaitlin and I needed a break regardless.
Tucker stood in the kitchen with his legs spread wide, donning just a diaper and said, “DADDY LOOK!!!”. He began to jostle his body up and down in an effort to make his (very wet) diaper pull away from him and spring right back up into position, pull away, spring back, pull away…
He giggled with pride while I chuckled in amusement. But later I realized, HE’S DRINKING THE SODA FOR THE TASTE!!!!!
He didn’t sleep during his nap. He peed in his diaper because he’s used to it and was too lazy to take it off, leave his room, and go to the bathroom. We decided then that Tucker was going to kick his diaper habit cold-turkey.
The last couple days we’ve been preparing. We picked up a couple extra sets of bed sheets, prepped Tucker on what was going to happen, and last night we put him to bed sans diaper. We knew he’d be waking up in a puddle of piss. But that’s ok. His body will adjust; he’ll figure it out with some help from us.
I’ve been thinking about these two things a lot lately (soda and diapers… what a combo!) and how these situations likely apply to other unhealthy or unnecessary habits. Things we do out of seemingly necessity that eventually turn in to actions of convenience.
I’ve also found that it’s far easier for me to break a bad habit (e.g. stop drinking soda) than it is to form a completely new, good habit (e.g. workout 3x/week). And I wonder if that’s simply because I have too many bad habits crowding out the potential for good ones, but that’s for another post.
For now I’m happy conquering my soda addiction, and I think I’ll stop counting the days. After all, I’m not still keeping a tally of how long it’s been since I’ve wet the bed now am I?
