This morning, I took a break from never ending chores. I drank the better part of a pot of coffee and walked around the yard watching my little boys play. I like to do this on Wednesday mornings because my big ones are off at piano lessons and my attention doesn’t have to be divided. I haven’t written much lately and it’s definitely not from lack of poo. I’ve even had a couple of people kindly share their own poo stories with me. I’m ever so grateful. It’s so much fun to get to laugh at you.....I mean, with you.
Potty training is going remarkably well. Tony is dedicated to keeping his undies dry these days. He’s not quite so dedicated to actually making it to the potty. I think I’ve finally convinced him that it’s unacceptable to pee on the porch right in front of the door. Or on the porch stairs. He recently experimented with peeing down the slide. At church. The one that his brother was currently sliding down. But his undies are dry.
He’s had a little difficulty understanding why he has to put his pants back on as well. When we went to the park the other day, I went to push Chuy on the swing for a bit. When I wandered back to check on him, he was having a grand time climbing the playset. Naked from the waist down. But when I found his undies and shorts, they were dry. I’m choosing to count my blessings here and remember these stories to regale his future wife with.
Devin’s vocabulary seems to be growing by the day. I’m hoping it’s the result of hours of reading. I’ve memorized the majority of Cat in the Hat, Go Dog Go, Foot Book, Put Me In The Zoo and numerous others. The other morning, Devin searched for a lost book without success. Finally, he went to David to explain what he was doing. “I looked and can’t find my book!” He announced. “Then it got complicated!” he finished. Complicated? Really? Yes, it’s been a favorite explanation lately. Like when he took a toy from Chuy. Or when he pooped his pants in town. You didn’t think I could write without having some sort of poop incident did you? Yep. Everything these days is “complicated”.
Speaking of which, I had a story that was begun a few weeks ago and as yet unpublished. In the interest of letting you laugh at my expense, I thought I’d still share it.....
I don't go to the bathroom by myself. I'm usually followed by the two or three youngest who really feel the importance of cheering me on, handing me toilet paper and flushing the toilet before I have a chance to stand up. The oldest two are much more content to stand outside the bathroom door, peppering me with critically imperative questions like, "when I get done with my chores and math, what can I do?" "when Dad gets home, what are we going to do?" and one of my favorites, "do we get ice cream tonight if we eat our supper?
In case you're wondering, the answers to these are usually," laundry", "laundry" and "if I get interrupted one more time, you can have laundry for dessert!" You'd think I'd get more laundry done than I really do.
Today I found myself blissfully alone in the bathroom. I'd love to have taken time to enjoy the peace and quiet. But any mother knows how it goes. When the cat's away, the mice will burn the house down while trying to get to the candy. I hurried out to find Tony and Chuy had decorated several pictures for me. Some on paper. Mostly on the kitchen floor and refrigerator. In sharpie. I'll be sure to invite them along for my next bathroom trip.
We're so excited to see Chuy taking an interest in potty training. He may be our easiest yet! He's already got the hang of going pee pee in the potty. He's tried to make it for poops a couple of times. Problem is, he feels like he must sit as far back on the potty as possible. This results in a deposit down the back of the potty. Baby steps.
We had another fascinating experience today. The above was written yesterday. We can't have all our fun in one day. I was folding laundry in the living room, Tony and Devin squabbling quietly the my feet. Drew emerged from the bathroom to inform me that his toilet was overflowing. "Danae said it was stopped up. I had to poop. So I flushed it again and now it's not going down."
I dashed to the bathroom to indeed find poopy toilet water overflowing onto the floor. I jiggled the handle to get the water to stop and dashed to my bedroom for boots. Yeah. I was NOT stepping in that. Working with the plunger only resulted in more water sloshing over the side. Ug! I went for the toilet snake.
Just as I got the snake situated, and by that I mean threaded about a quarter of the way into the toilet to be jiggled and cursed at until it accomplishes unclogging the drain, Tony began to wail in earnest about something Devin was doing. His piercing shriek grew in intensity until I had to abandon the bathroom to..... discipline the offenders. About that time, Chuy disappeared into Drew's room to mess with forbidden toys. One more spanking and I had over half my brood crying. Time to head back to the sewage in the bathroom. I managed to clear the clog and put the snake in the bathtub to be washed.
Since everyone has to poop at the same time (is that the disadvantage of everyone eating together?), Chuy decided to take that opportunity to take care of business. “Gucky, Momma!” He began to call. But the bathtub I normally shower him in was currently housing the plunger and snake. We made do with wipes and promises of a bath later.
The upside was that the entire bathroom got bleached. Curtains got taken down and washed. Even the hallway got steam cleaned. I have to say, I’m not sure I really expected this kind of excitement when I thought of having children. Though, in sharing my stories, I’ve heard from several other moms that their life is covered in its fair share of poo too. It’s just part of having kids. And honestly, if we can find the humor in it, life becomes a little less complicated.
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