The (insert word) Fours

The Fours. What a ride they've already been. I briefly mentioned in my vacation post how we had our fair share of drama with Tyler. It didn't just start there. It's been like this for quite a while and before Ryan was born.

1. Not listening: We are dealing with Tyler just not wanting to listen. We'll tell him to do something, and he either says "no" or he ignores us. It's over every little thing. Brushing teeth, finishing a meal, cleaning his room, putting his clothes on, going to the potty, etc. Everything is a challenge.
   
   
2. Potty Regression: I hesitate to even use the word regression because even as a late trainer, Tyler has always had accidents. I thought for sure that because he trained late that he would have less accidents, but it's not been the case. It's been like this for a year, however in the past 5-6 months, it's been ridiculous. And of course even worse in the past 2 months. I wash his clothes almost every single day because he pees in them. Today, his teacher called and he had already gone through two sets of clothes and it's not even noon. Josh and I have tried every response we can. We've ignored it, we've yelled, we've discussed, we've rewarded, and we've punished. Nothing works. He simply will not take the time to use the potty. And when we know he has to go, he will tell us he doesn't and then later end up having an accident. Several months ago I posted that we switched to underwear at night. That worked for the first couple of weeks, but in the past month it's gone downhill. At the beach, he must have wet the bed at least once a day. That poor mattress! Our poor mattress! So, I've literally had it. I guess I'm putting him back in pull ups. He gets very upset when I mention doing it. I have no idea if tough love is the answer, but I've exhausted every other option.
   

Sure, much of this could be the result of our family change, but it was all happening way before. It's a hard age and some days I just want to ask him where he put my easy going child?! I post all this in anger, but I do know that while he has these challenges, he really is a good kid who probably is wanting more attention than he's getting right now. I understand the not listening phase. From what I hear, it continues from here on out ;) But the accident thing just boggles me. I don't get it. At all.