Community Voices for Health

By: Heather Desmond O’Neill

Poop.

It’s what everyone’s talking about in my house these days.

I think that once you become a parent, talking about bowel movements and urination become everyday topics that you share with anyone else who is a parent. Most likely they won’t get weirded out by it.

I remember when my husband and I were overjoyed that our newborn son had pooped in his diaper because he was jaundice and this meant that things were moving through his system. I never thought I would celebrate poop.

But boy was I wrong.

After potty training two boys, there have been many a celebratory dances done when someone poops on the potty. Just the other day I think I gave myself whiplash dancing around the bathroom after JD did his business on the porcelain pedestal. He’s done a really good job with #1 – we’re out of pull-ups, in the big-boy underwear, going every 20-30 minutes – but #2 hasn’t been so easy. But we have turned a corner… For the past 2 days he hasn’t had an accident and has used the potty for all of his excrement needs. I am overjoyed.

The thought of no more diapers/pull-ups is enough to send me into a giggle fit. Think of the money I’m going to save!!!

But, there are two negatives to potty training:
1. You talk about peeing and pooping incessantly; and
2. You have to learn where every restroom in a 10-mile radius is.

Staying home is great, but if you want to leave your home with a potty training toddler, you’re talking about it repeatedly. Before you leave the house, you prompt them to go. If they go, great. If not, you’re asking, “Are you sure? You should try. Please try. No really, go back in and try.” At times it’s a battle, especially if you are in a hurry and want to get out the door.

Diapers made me lazy. I could throw a diaper on my child and go shopping, out to lunch, to the playground, on a long car ride, the possibilities were endless. I didn’t need a restroom – I could change him in the car, on the floor, sometimes even standing up!

But when you’re out and about without the safety barrier that Pampers has provided for the last few years, you’re forever scouting out the closest restroom. It never fails – if you are shopping and the restroom is at the front of the store, your child will wait until you are at the back of the store to tell you they need to go. If the restroom is at the back of the store, they wait until you are ready to check out at the front of the store to tell you how badly they need to go. (If they were in pull-ups, this wouldn’t be a problem!) So you’re asking them when you’re close to the restroom – “Do you need to go potty?”

The questions never end.

The potty talk even carries over into texts. Just today I received a romantic text from my husband, “Poopy on the potty. Without me asking him.” He could have told me he loved me, but with that text I knew. Our love was evident. He was sharing a moment with me that was going to change our lives forever.

I’ve succumbed to the fact that this is what I’m going to be dealing with for a while.

Poop. It’s what you talk about as parents of young kids.

I’m thinking of making that a bumper sticker…. or applying to Hallmark.