I thought on this Independence Day holiday it would be very appropriate to write about a topic that has been brewing in my mind for a long time: poop. As mothers of young children, we all long for our children to reach that point of independence, that time where we are freed from dealing with the daily ins and outs of changing diapers, washing diapers, disposing of diapers, cleaning underwear, wiping butts, etc. I'm fairly confident that if you're sad about potty training your kids you may have an emotional issue where you long for your children to remain overly dependent. I mean it could be something else: like your families poop doesn't stink, you want to baby your baby, or maybe you just haven't had enough kids yet.
I can assure you that after changing poopy diapers consecutively for 5 and 1/2 years, sometimes dealing with a toddler and infant at the same time, the idea of having a new, dependent baby makes me slightly sad. Sure those beginning poops are mustard yellow, barely smell, and those tiny little butts are beyond cute, but then after a few weeks, you wonder if the time will ever come that your child doesn't poop 14 times a day, and if your budget can survive buying that many diapers! This time I was blessed with having a nice, oh, 4 month break between diaper changing sessions; even though, my 2-year-old still wears diapers at night, she disposes of them on her own in the mornings. And it's only pee! But even with the hiatus, I still deal with poop on daily basis:
Sometimes my almost 6-year-old will ask me to help her. I tell her, "No, I deal with poop enough; you can do it." No room for babying there ...
My 4-year-old sits on the potty after she goes, screaming, "Moooooomy! Mooooooom! Mooooomy! I pooped!" I ignore her or tell her to hold on. {Insert tears}. "Moooooomy! Mooooooom! Mooooomy! I pooped! It's going to dry on my butt! Please don't let it dry on my butt!" I have never let poop dry on her butt, but I did tell her when I was trying to get her to wipe her own butt that it could happen. Bad idea. Now we have a poop-drying phobia.
Two-year-olds and poop are fun. Sincerely. If you don't laugh, you would break down in tears. I have potty-trained all my kids before they were 2 and 1/2 years old, but then it only gets more interesting. Our most frequent current thing is one of the girls coming in saying, "Mommy! Gigi pooped in the yard." Fun. Fun. Fun. We live on my parents farm, so there are lots of animals. I asked her why she thought it was okay to poop in the yard and she said, "Cayenne (the dog) does." We went through several episodes of this ... then it happened. By it, I mean the day she pooped repeatedly all over our walk. By the time I got her cleaned up, the sun had warmed it just enough that I one point I literally had to run away from it just prior to my gag reflex making puke spill all over the yard as well. She came up to me the other day and said, "It's okay to pee in the yard, but not poop." Whew. I think we're making progress. This is just a small snippet of having a potty-trained two-year-old, from emptying her own potty chair to pooping on the kitchen bench, things are always, always filled with poopy fun!
And, as if dealing with 3 kids isn't enough, you still have to deal with your own plumbing. Most of my pregnancy days are filled a conscious awareness of whether I'm eating the right foods, and drinking enough water to keep myself, you guessed it: pooping. And then, there is the never-ending saga of trying to find a moment, a slim fleeting moment where I can lock myself in the bathroom and go without someone interrupting me. As a mom there are certain phrases we hear ourselves repeat over and over again, and for me, one of them is, "Shut the door! I want to poop alone!"
You might think it ends there, but poop impacts your marriage as well. On days like today, when Richard is home, I let him deal with the butt wiping. But since today is Independence Day, I will also celebrate my own independence by letting him entertain the girls while I have some quality time in the bathroom! Let freedom ring!
You make me laugh so much!
ReplyDelete