Warning! Every Mother of Toddlers has to Share at Least One Poop Post!

Feel free to skip this post if you'd rather not read about toddlers and poop! I know there is a limited readership who will read this with relish because they are in the midst of raising toddlers, too. But, if I were out of this stage, I would skip this post!

I'm not sure what the answer is to our dilemma of MS and bathrooms. After Wednesday, I put a lock on the bathroom doors upstairs and accompanied him to the bathroom every time he needed to use it. But, that isn't really working either. That boy seems to always come to mischief when he enters the bathroom.

On Wednesday afternoon, I attempted to put the two little boys down for a nap. YS seemed to go down very easily, but MS fought it desperately. After two short books, he pulled out the ultimate manipulation weapon. He declared he had to poop!

The child CAN poop in a toilet. He has done it at least three or four times before. With my ES, that was all it took. The first time he had success on the potty, he was entirely trained. MS knows that he will get a tattoo for each time he goes #2 on the potty and will get to play with a special toy (last time it was finger paints, but he used them all up). However, he still requests a diaper and the privacy of his room.

This time he decided he wanted to watch a video while taking care of business, so I put on the video and headed off to clean the kitchen from lunch. I checked on him from time to time, but he does often take quite a while (he has had issues in this area and been on Miralax since he turned two).

The next time I checked on him, he was in the bathroom by the sink. I assumed he was getting into his usual mischief (taking toys in and cleaning the toys and the sink with soap and a sponge). However, he had that look about his face which clearly states, "All is NOT WELL."

I asked what he was doing and he mildly replied "cleaning the sink."

I said, "It wasn't even dirty! I just cleaned it this morning."

He replied, "But, I got it dirty."

"How?"

"Well, I put some poop in the sink."

"Your diaper is still on. ..."

"I know. I put my fingers down into my butt and then wiped it off on the sink. So then, I had to clean it."

I said, "Oh, just GREAT! You know you are not supposed to put your hands down in it!"

I wish that were the end of the conversation, but it wasn't. He then informed me that I would have to throw his toothbrush out, because he used it to scrub the sink. (Two praises: He did do a good job - I didn't see a spot of poop on the sink or his toothbrush! I'm also thrilled that he understood we would have to throw out the toothbrush. He could have just decided to brush his teeth once he was done cleaning the sink!)

After cleaning up his bottom, I headed back to give an adult cleaning to the bathroom and throw out his toothbrush. Alas, I noticed a small spot of something on YS's toothbrush. After calling MS to the carpet again, he admitted that he used his little brother's toothbrush, too, but not his older brother's (he's gotten in trouble for that before, because ES has special tools for his braces). Oh, joy!

For the rest of the afternoon, I kept him right by my side, until it came time for dinner preparation. The two little boys were on the back porch playing. At some point when my back was turned (probably putting something into the oven), MS must have slipped off to the downstairs bathroom. This is where my ES showers. My husband was downstairs exercising. When he headed upstairs for his shower and dinner, he stopped off in that bathroom and discovered MS had been up to no good again. MS had taken ES's shampoo bottle and drawn a circle or something on the rug outside the shower. The bottle was almost empty.

When confronted, he always admits his actions and realizes that he will be disciplined. He doesn't like the discipline. So, why is he a repeat offender?? I suppose God is wondering the same thing about me (and countless others who know what is right, but choose to do wrong repeatedly). Thankfully, God never asks to get out of His job, right! He just keeps loving me in spite of my poop and mischief.