…so one of my other kids didn’t want to be outdone apparently.
Last weekend I was at our house mowing the lawn and keeping up the yard so it looks nice for showing (we are selling it). Said child has to do some business so I take him inside to one of the pristine bathrooms and get back to yard work.
Today I am back to clear out some remaining items and I go downstairs to do my periodic check and smell poop. I worry something went awry with the plumbing!
I was both relieved and irritated to discover that said child forgot to flush down his nasty (NASTY) colon cleansing.
My love never wavers, but sometimes my eyebrow twitches a little more
Sometimes It’s a Good Thing
I don’t believe my three year old is unique in that he has zero filter and no control over the volume of his voice. This can quite regularly lead to awkward conversations in public places. Today, however, I found an instance where this wasn’t the case.
Two of us were out for lunch at a pizza place and he had to go to the bathroom. This place has two separate unisex bathrooms so we get the key and go into one of them. I help my son go pee and get him set up with soap, water, and a paper towel at the sink and then it’s my turn. As I’m standing there doing my business, he looks over at me and says in his not-so-sotto-voce, “Daddy, your penis is HUGE!!!!”
Ya, I can’t really complain about that one.
The Evolution of Toilet Training
Our parenting style evolved significantly from the time of our first child to the time of our third child. We were not only more relaxed but also more distracted as we now had three kids who are much more mobile and active. One great example of the drastic difference is how the toilet training process went.
When our daughter was learning, we organized playdates with other girls the same age and we had a baby sitter to help as all three girls would line up to take scheduled potty breaks together. We had star charts and videos and books and pretty purple princess pull-ups for a total immersion into the process.
In contrast, recently my wife and I were in the kitchen trying to get dinner ready when we see our third child walking naked down the hall with something in his hands. Out of morbid curiosity, we stop what we’re doing to follow him. He walks into the bathroom and we realize that he’s been carrying is his portable plastic potty. He puts it down on the floor, opens the toilet seat, picks up the plastic potty and dumps his pee and poo into the toilet and flushes it. He then goes to the sink to wash his hands and then he takes his step stool over to the pantry to get himself a treat.
As he goes back to play, we realize that our child has potty trained himself without us and the only thought that goes through our heads is whether or not we should make him put some clothes on.
An Interesting Tradeoff
My youngest is finally potty training. As I watched him in the bathroom, standing on his step-stool, a full foot-and-a-half above the toilet, I realized that whatever money we may save in diapers will be spent on paper towels cleaning up the three-foot radius.
Ben Learning the Lingo
Our youngest is potty training and we’ve been enlisting our older two to help/encourage. It’s great to see them all working together and even when accidents happen, they are all supportive. Today, this led to a Proud Parenting moment and a not-so-proud Parenting moment happening simultaneously…
(children coming up the stairs together)
Ben (middle child): Harry just shit his pants.
Mommy: Where did you learn that word?
Ben: Daddy.