Hi all DS turns 2 in March and insists on running around with nothing but a shirt on, yes, even in this freezing weather. (AM, we live in Fairfield County, CT too!) So that has helped me get him to pee in the potty. Also we make a big deal of it...when he wants to go, he says Potteeeeeeee and hops, skips and jumps to the bathroom with me chasing him, so it's fun ;-) But pooping is a totally different matter. He just won't poop in the potty. When he feels like he needs to poop and he doesn't have a diaper on, he insists that I put it on and he will poop in it within minutes! Just need to be patient I guess. AM, regarding talking to others about potty stuff without being thought you're crazy (!!), which town do you live in? Have you tried the MOMS club there? The folks can be quite friendly. Superbee

Yes, I've heard family stories, too, about kids being trained at a year or 18 months. Like my Gram said my one great aunt had her kids all trained by 13 months but we're talking she was nasty with them! She would make them wear wet or dirty pants for hours to teach them it was bad and they got spanked with a paddle for going and punished in other ways. Like a kid that age can really understand the concept and everything? I wanted DS potty trained early but it just didn't happen...he wouldn't cooperate and the more we yelled at him for going in his pants the more he resisited. He's been potty-trained fully (well during the day. Some nights he doesn't wet a pull-up and others he does a lot! It's not because he has a pull-up on either cause he'll get out of bed in the morning and have one on and still go to the potty just fine) for about 5 months now. I know kids older than him that are still working on it and parents who haven't even tried really. So I guess where he is is better than where he could be. ~Leslie~

Hmmm.. I certainly don't have great advice to give here, but I will tell you what happened with me. I had my first cat for 7 years (she had moved cross country, and a few different apartments with me) and she was my one and only. Until one day at work in a barn I heard a little pathetic "mew-ing" coming from a dark corner. I searched real hard (the barn had no lights, only natural daylight coming in through the door, and the cat was black and about 2-3 lbs) until I found her. Against the advice of my boss (who owned the barn) I went inside and got some food and some milk to give to the starving kitty. I kept this up for about 2 weeks, and during this time my bf (the boss's son) started to like the kitty as well and asked if we could take her home with us. I knew my one and only cat would certainly not appreciate it, but my heartstrings got the better of me (the area was well known for kitty road kill) and I agreed to bring her home. Once there my precious cat, who up until now had been queen of the castle, displayed her nasty side and I have never seen so much hissing coming from what I though was the gentlest cat in the world. I was the young PUNK then because I knew nothing about socializing cats and how to introduce them to one another. I just plunked Kitty down in the same room as Jelika and watched what happened. Lots of growling/hissing/swatting and who knew what happened when I wasn't home (working on a farm is no 8 hour a day job.. I/we were gone a minimum of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week). But when I got home they both seemed to be in one piece still and eventually... eventually the hissing/growling/swatting subsided. This was 12 years ago and up until sweet Jelika passed away in April, they still occaisionally swatted at one another, but more often than not I would find them curled up together on the bed. Jelika would always sleep by my side, in the crook of my arm and Kitty would sleep by my feet (if on the bed at all). Kitty always wanted to be where Jelika was. Even though I had 2 exact same cat beds in front of the fireplace Kitty would always wait until Jelika left hers and then promptly jumped into that one. And even to this day, with Jelika being gone, Kitty still waits whenever I fill up the food dish, I presume to see if Jelika will want to eat first. She waits until I tell her it is ok to eat, because Jelika isn't coming back. Even at the end though, I think Jelika wanted to prove to Kitty her "ownership and first cat status" over Kitty, because most times when Kitty would sit on my lap, and Jelika got wind of it, no matter where she was or what she was doing she would drop anything and come over and jump up HIGHER on my lap (she would usually end up on my chest somewhere, because one lap is crowded with 2 cats) effectively hogging all the attention/petting and cutting Kitty off. It was kind of funny and I never knew that a cat could give an "evil eye" until I saw Jelika looking at me whenever I would give Kitty a petting. She would always come over and assume that since I had 2 hands, I should be using the free one to pet HER. I certainly don't NEED 2 hands to pet Kitty! I guess I'm telling you all this because I don't think it really matters what you do or how long you separate them or leave them together. The first little while will be a little rough, but eventually they will learn to like each other, and find comfort in each other. I guess I've never done anything "properly" or to exacting standards when it came to my cats, but as long as there is enough love to go around, it will always work out in the end. Good luck, and please don't send Jayden away to a shelter where he may end up in a home that is not even half as loving as yours. Mokanee

Hi Silver, yes I am sure she is medically ok. If she doesnt show signs of urinary urgency (small amounts of urine being passed often that she physically cant hold on to) along with any urinary burning, then she is likely just fine. I used to have to go every 5 mins and dribble and it would burn SO badly. I am sure any of you lovely ladies who have ever suffered cystitis...well x10 and thats how it felt. I was one miserable kid. All is finally good 30 years later:) The only other thing to be slightly aware of is of a tendency towards an immature bladder...that is the nerves and muscles of the bladder can be a little underdeveloped and dont respond as well to the pressure of urine in the bladder. This improves with time, and there are strategies/meds to help train the bladder to hold more and for longer. Believe it or not, voiding frequently ("just in case")when you dont actually feel the urge can worsen the problem. It trains the bladder into sensing the need to void with a small volume, and therefore creating the need to void more frequently. You are right in thinking though that this could very well be an acting out and situational problem-for that i would quietly defer to those moms who have dealt with this types of issues before. That is a challenging problem and my heart goes out to you as you try to resolve it - especially trying to get your ex and his wife on board. Good luck:)