(My sister keeps lodgers the way other people keep guinea pigs. She finds them trying, dirty and hard to get to love. Her latest is a sulky French girl, who is finding her embroyonic career in the fasion business - 'I will be at Milan, you know' - hard to square with my sister's lifestyle (two children under six, one being potty trained, both working on their screaming with a view to careers in the horror business, one in poo denial. Now read on....)
'The latest instalment of "Lodgers from hell" saw French girl leaving with just one week's notice (several weeks earlier than planned), as Rose's potty training proved to be too much for her.
Apparently the reason was not so much the the general disgustingness of it all, although the poo which ended up on the carpet outside her room obviously didn't help, but more the high pitched screaming which seemed to accompany her poo denial antics. Lawrence seemed to join in too for some reason I'm not quite clear about).
I don't really blame French Girl for going - in fact, I was very tempted to leave as well). The worst of the screaming coincided with FG needing to type up a report.
The incident which probably clinched it was one where both children went upstairs at bedtime just ahead of me and screamed very loudly on the landing. As I came up the stairs FG was shouting at them to be quiet and Rose was in mid dump.
A few days later both children were screaming very loudly in the hall. Above this din, a third scream, loudest of all, reached my ears from the spare room above the kitchen.
I think I knew even then that the room would soon be vacant.
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15 comments:
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
Crystal xx
And that, CJ, is something that applied equally to Rose and the lodger, unfortunately.
I was very frustrated as well with potty training. When I was researching potty training a common theme seemed to be praise and positive reinforcement. I came across a website called www.pottytrainingrewards.com. We hung it in the kitchen and named the little boy on the front of the package, Bobby. My son could not wait to go to the potty so he could push the button, hear the praising message, and get his chocolate reward from, Bobby. It really got my son excited about using the potty himself and it was fun for him. Because he became so involved, potty training was easy. He was using the potty the very first day. So give it a try. Best of luck!
karen s: Will pass your comments on to my sister. Thanks so much.
You have to laugh!!
Casdok: Or weep, I guess.
Lovely Omega Mum,
Reading this I realise how many stages we have already passed through, and realise why the health visitor was so calm and reassuring about it all - or was that simply because she has no children herself?
Dulwich Mum: I think all those health visitors must just love being able to walk away from it all. Like being an aunt, only better.
Love it Omega mum!
My nephew makes an incredible sound when he's doing a poo - the last time in a restaurant:nearly cleared the place, I have to say (as well as earning us a few angry/questioning looks).
My mum used to take lodgers and though I was a teen at the time, I'm not sure it was any the more pleasant for them
Yes, mid-lifer, but I bet they didn't find anything horrid on the carpet outside their rooms - which would have helped.
Worst thing about pregnancy and little ones is the preoccupation with bodily fluids.
So pleased I'm over that stage - well, apart from the fun ones!
There's something about 'bodily fluids,' isn't there - just as a phrase.
There's something about 'bodily fluids,' isn't there - just as a phrase.
About this potty training. It's difficult, isn't it? Damn. I've been under an illusion, thinking it would make life easier. Stupid me. Gina Ford or someone promised it could be done in a week. And I believed her, because I wanted to think it would be easy. But then I saw an acquaintance with a potty in her handbag, which made me think perhaps nappies have something going for them after all. I don't want to carry a potty around in my bag. I have enough baggage already.
M@L: Potty training takes us all in different ways. It was the towel on the car seat that got me - and that was just for me.
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