Of Boys And Peeing

We are closing in on the day when we will embark on potty training our 7th son. The usual modus operandi involves bribing, er rather `encouraging,' the potty trainee to go in the toilet rather than his underwear by giving him M&Ms. As added incentive, each successful deposit into the toilet results in him passing M&Ms out to his siblings. The idea is that the bros and sisses will be constantly asking the potty trainee if he's gotta go and leading him to the toilet in hopes of scoring chocolate candies. Ingenious, eh?

Now if we could just nail down the whole `lifting up the seat' thing. What is it about little boys and not lifting up the seat when they gotta take a whiz? Is it beneath them? Are they in too much of a rush? Is it their way of marking their territory? (You would think I would know the answers to these questions. But like the deepest cosmic mysteries -- such as how does Julie keep getting pregnant? -- I don't.) No matter how often I remind, cajole and even threaten them, more often than not the toilet seat shows signs of another drive-by peeing. But then, every once in a while, we get a Hallelujah moment. Such as tonight, when I heard our 4-year-old Eli proudly announce to his mother he had gone to the bathroom. "I didn't pee on the toilet!" he hollered out. She's so proud. So am I.