Adventures in Pottying

We're sort of potty training. And when I say sort of, I mean we hadn't really planned on doing it yet, but Natalie went through this "NO DIAPER!" phase and as a result we've been allowing lots of bare-bottomed time as she wants it, and talking about potties a lot and ending up with a lot of pee in the potty but quite a bit on the floor as well. All while trying to be as low-pressure as humanly possible, but still hoping that we won't be mopping up puddles for the next year. On Friday, Jen decided we should just give up for a while because Natalie is in a fabulously oppositional stage which makes the whole deal a little tricky at times. However, yesterday and today she wanted nothing to do with diapers, and was able to make appropriately timed requests for the potty. But I'm not here to brag about how my child will by out of diapers by 2 (Because she won't. Not by a long shot.) No, I'm here to write about...The Poop-cident. You may want to stop reading now.

Natalie has had a habit of being a naptime pooper. Many a nap has been cut short by an untimely poop. So really, we haven't had to deal with poop much in this potty endeavor. The few times we have, it has seemed like she's possibly a little scared of the whole pooping on the potty deal. Which is not that unusual, really, and is no big deal to us. So we've tried to be extra laid back about that. This afternoon, however, it became clear that she really did have to poop. We tried the potty to no avail. We discussed options, and she decided she wanted to poop in a diaper. No problem. We put a diaper on, she went back to playing with C (our Monday toddler companion), and I went back to doing dishes. And then she began to cry.

She was pooping in the diaper and clearly distressed by that, so we took the diaper off, sat her on the potty, and she finished there. She was pleased with herself and quite anxious to examine the poop in the potty. Excellent. Progress made. She went (bare-bottomed) back to playing with C, and I once again returned to the dishes. And then there was another cry.

She was pooping again, this time with nothing to catch it. Begin high-speed poop calculus. The closest potty involved crossing area rugs- too hard to clean with two toddlers. Playroom floor is wood, so easy-clean, but second toddler might have too much fun with any...droppings, while I dealt with cleaning her. I suppose I might have been able to grab a potty and make it back in time, but, honestly it didn't seem likely. So...I grabbed the poop. Right before it hit the floor. Yes, with my bare hands. Ran it to the bathroom. Returned, grabbed still-pooping child with unscathed hand. Dropped her on potty. Began scrubbing hands. Child happily finished pooping, this time for good.

Gave up on dishes.