DIversion to Underwear

We have been trying to convince Elliot to put on underwear. Currently he is sitting in the hallway crying, 'I want my pullup on' and periodically grunting and hitting the wall. He REALLY does not want to wear underwear. It's like a pair of underwear seriously traumatized him in a past life.

These are some of my conversations with Elliot this morning in my quest to get underwear on him...

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M: Elliot, you like Wonder Pets. Your whole body like Wonder Pets.

E: My bones don't.

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While changing him out of a pullup and trying to convince him to put on underwear.

M: (singing) 'Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, You're on my Butt'

E: Small smile at how clever mommy was, then straight back to grimacing and whining for his pullup.

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M: Elliot you are not getting a pullup. If you don't want to wear underwear, then you will wear nothing.

E: Ok. (with a smile) And lets me put his soft pants back on.

See, this was easy because he has this little game he plays. He'll wait until you aren't looking and then go put on a pullup. This is what he has done the past couple of weekends when we tried to get him to wear underwear. However, I took them all with me when I left the room. When he realized this he was really upset. But then both of us at the same time remembered there was a diaper down in the kitchen on the shoe rack. He already went down to the kitchen. I was 30 seconds behind him and he already had the swinging door to the kitchen closed. This was actually really funny.

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Now we are working on a half an hour of, 'I want a pullup on' crying and whining. He is really not happy. He's been in time out for some of that time because of the language and hitting of the walls.

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Trying to console/rationalize with him:

M: What is it about diapers and pullups that you don't want to give them up?

E: I love them. (almost as dramatically as a 15-yr old girl proclaiming her love).

M: You love your blankets, but would you pee and poop and throw them away? That doesn't sound like love to me.

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M: We can go to the book or toy store and pick up what ever you want if you get rid of the diapers forever. And this is in addition to the birthday and christmas presents coming.

E: Can we go today?

We'll see how this day further progresses. Currently he has stopped whining for the pullup. But he is still running around pantless.