Kyle has been downstairs for a few minutes while Dave is downstairs on a scary business call. I go downstairs and find the basement incredibly quiet. I look and look and finally see a little light coming from the basement bathroom. I find Kyle. He is pooping. (um, I know some of you out there don’t care much for poop stories, but I promise this one is clean — wink).
Hey buddy, I was wondering what you were doing?
Mom, I am pooping. Will you stay down here and keep me company?
(As the words left Kyle’s sweet lips, I was thinking to myself about the fact that I really needed to run upstairs to the other bathroom so I could do what he was doing.)
Kyle, I really need to go and check on Eli. Here is some toilet paper. It’s just the right amount.
(You see, Kyle gets nervous about plugging the toilet due to the one time he did after using up a roll of toilet paper in one sitting. Argh! Where were his parents?)
Mom, there are ten squares. Is ten squares the right amount?
Yep, you will be good.
Great! Thanks Mom.
The millisecond I know Kyle is all right, I sprint upstairs towards the other bathroom where I am met by Eli.
Mom.
Yes Eli?
I really need to poop.
And this is what I, as the mother, do when both boys need to poop: I wait.
It’s funny- before I became a mom (2 months ago) I didn’t think it was possible to wait to poop. Now, I realize I can (and often have to) wait all day, until my husband is home from work and I finally can. What do single mothers do, I wonder?
Love your blog!
The day when my boy wants to use the toilet shall be a blessed one, for he’ll be 3 in a few days and isn’t interested in using his potty whatsoever. I’m trying to remember your effective “pee jar” method. Bribery is starting to sound appealing.
I think it’s possible that playpens have gone out of style, but God knows I used one when I took care of my baby niece every day for a whole summer a few years ago. There’s nothing like a playpen for parking the toddler during those special turtle-head moments. Do you guys think playpens are bad? I’m not talking about sticking a kid in one all day, and I’m not talking about those ones with bars for easy strangulation and/or general auto-mangling, but surely it can’t be terrible to have one handy, especially if you’re on solo toddler-duty for any length of time? (Before the niece was good at walking, we [all grown-up members of family] totally used a Johnny-Jump-up in the doorways, which in my opinion is a version of the playpen. I do still see/hear of parents using these fairly frequently, but I hardly ever hear of playpen use anymore.) What’s the consensus?
Carol,
Did you know that they now have children’s toilet paper? It’s got pictures of doggie paw prints and a dog house. You unroll the pawprints until you find the dog house.
http://www.cottonelle.com/products/kids.asp
We only have one bathroom in our house so waiting is a way of life. I can only imagine that it will get worse when we have children around.
As for the playpen comment, I have one ready and I intend to use it.
On the playpen question: I don’t have kids, but there are a ton of photos of me as a baby in a playpen, surrounded by toys. I look pretty darn happy, so I dunno.
I remember playpens, and I don’t think anything is wrong with them.
I saw the ad for the kids toilet paper today and thought you have to be kidding me! But after reading your story maybe it’s a good idea! Except what happens if it’s not really not enough? God bless!
Hey Kate, what about this entry made you ask about playpens? Just curious.
I love Kyle’s very adorable anxiety about the “right amount.” That said, I am green with envy that you have TWO toilets in your house. TWO!! (All you two-flushable-toilet-owning readers of this post, should get down on your knees right now and offer up prayers of thanks. Don’t take it for granted!) And we have had some bad, stomach clenching poop emergencies in our pad, given the fact that four completely potty-trained people share one toilet!! I am about to go on Ebay and look for a Ye Olde Fashioned Chamber Pot.
Adams family pooping: It’s almost like the female’s menstrual cycle, what with all of you on the same timeframe and all.
Beth, first of all, congratulations! I am thrilled for you and hope you are pooping regularly.
Here is one of my poop entries for your perusal: http://capacious.typepad.com/capacious/2005/10/want_dat.html. You just left me my first blog comment EVER. I am framing an award with your name on it. You rock.
I know what you mean! I also “have” to check my boy’s bottom to make sure it’s clean and more often than not, I’m instructed to WIPE FOR HIM. Puh-leeze. Ick.
In our house, we have one toilet. For 4 people – 3 boys (that includes the husband) and me. I, officially, have no bathroom privacy. I was doing my own #2, when my youngest (who just turned 4 – eek!) came in, held his crotch, and glared at me. Since I was already in the “throes” of things, I made him wait. Daddy saved the day by teaching him the wonders of boys and the great outdoors.
Michele, I’m really sounding like a sad sack. Sorry about that! We have two girls who must sit or squat, and no great outdoors, although that doesn’t stop people (and dogs, of course) from pooing and peeing on the sidewalks here anyway. Still, it’s nice to know there’s another one potty family of four out there.
Grew up in a family of 7 with ONE bathroom. Pure hell.
Now I live alone in a house with 3 bathrooms. Pure heaven, in more ways than one.
Playpens beyond rock, no two ways about it.
Ah, yes, the sacrifices we are required to make as mothers, eh?
We have a 5 square rule, but our potties are finicky.
Ah, the family that poops together…whoops together? ;^)
We only have one bathroom and more than once, unfortunately, I have had to stop mid-way to allow the peanut use of the facilities. That sucks. Really sucks. haha!
I’m giggling, but with four kids and one bathroom, I shouldn’t be ;o)