Every Party has a Pooper

For some reason I can't get a grip on things lately.  I feel like a mess of a mother.  I am severely lacking in the patience area and feel like a ticking time bomb.  It's bad news, but nothing I can't figure out.  Life is good, I am blessed and I know that.  Just in one of those funks.

Jace is one of those kids who does the exact opposite of what you say while smiling and looking you in the face.  When I am disciplining him(even when I'm raging mad) he will laugh in my face.  If I say run to the left, he will walk to the right.

For the past week he has started pooping his pants. It's almost as if he woke up one morning and flipped a switch. He was fine one day, the next day...not so much.

The first time it happened I felt like I was very patient.  I reassured him that it was an accident, and everything was fine.  We went on our merry way.  The next time it happened I was bugged.  The next time, he got in trouble because he "knows better"(and because he was walking down the hall dropping it out of his shorts).  The next time he had to wear a diaper.  Then I told him he had to clean it up himself. Then he had to wear a diaper and carry 15 clean diapers with him everywhere he went.  Then he had to throw his beloved Astro Boy underwear in the garbage.Then I bought a bubblegum machine for bribing purposes.   Then I ignored it.  I feel like I have tried everything under the sun. 

The first time I put him back in a diaper he hysterically cried(I felt bad but thought I was helping him understand wearing underwear is better).  The next time he got a diaper he didn't poop for two days(which resulted in diarrhea for the next day).  So for the last two mornings I have asked him if he wants a diaper or underwear, he chooses underwear.

Maybe he trained too young. Maybe he had a tummy ache. Maybe he was distracted while playing. Maybe he is just being Jace and doing the exact opposite of what I want. Maybe he just doesn't care.

So last night as I sat in my boys room to watch them sleep before I went to bed.  I couldn't help but notice the pile clean diapers sitting in the doorway.  The same diapers I put away with excitement as Jace became potty trained.  The same diapers that make my heart ache for a newborn when I see them tucked away in the closet.  These diapers tugged at my heart strings as I sat next to my sleeping boys.  Maybe this whole pooping issue that's come up is not Jace's problem, but mine.  Maybe this is yet another opportunity for me to learn patience; an art I am far from perfecting, so I should welcome the chance to practice.