I debated writing this post. I'm a little leary of putting stuff out there that my daughter won't want people to read when she gets older. BUT— judging by the huge response when I alluded to our "poop problems" on facebook, I think this needs to be discussed.
I'm going to talk about this in the most general way possible and give my daughter a pseudonym. In fact, we are not talking about my daughter at all. We are talking about a three-year-old girl who is a friend of a friend's cousin.
Second cousin-in-law, actually.
Her name is… Priscilla.
Priscilla has been potty trained for about nine months. By potty trained, I mean pee-trained. Poop training has proved to be a different animal entirely.
It doesn't actually effect her day, because Priscilla has learned to hold in her poop until her parents put on her night time diaper. Then she waits until the lights are off and the door is shut to go about her business. Five minutes later, "Moooommmmm!!!! I pooped!!!!"
At least, that's what Priscilla's parents tell me.
A week ago, Priscilla's mom posted about this issue (she also has a blog) and someone suggested she put a diaper on her daughter when it was time to poop, but have her sit on the potty.
Hmmm… (thought Priscilla's mother)…. that sounds crazy enough to work!
Priscilla thought wearing a diaper on the potty sounded hilarious but when it was time to actually do the deed, she was far from amused. After five minutes of potty time, Priscilla claimed she did not, nor would she ever, have to poop.
So Priscilla's parents did the only thing left in their arsenal. They sent their daughter off to bed without her night time diaper. Then they sat on the couch in the living room and waited to see what was going to happen.
Prisicilla's mom wondered aloud.
"I wonder what is going to happen…"
Priscilla's dad stated the obvious.
"Well, she's either going to get up and poop in the potty or she's going to poop all over herself in the bed."
But Priscilla proved to be much more resourceful than either of her parents imagined.
Priscilla chose OPTION #3.
She came out of her room and announced she had pooped. Her parents were confused.
"Where? In your underwear?"
Priscilla shook her head.
"No, in my diaper."
After putting two and two and a very smart three-year-old together, Priscilla's parents figured out their daughter had gone into her closet, located the diapers, put one on herself and pooped in it.
In other words, Priscilla had just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was TOO OLD TO BE USING DIAPERS.
Once her diaper was changed, Priscilla's parents sent their daughter back to bed in underwear. Priscilla did not wet the bed that night which was a nice bonus to their eventful evening. It also meant that there was no turning back.
Two nights passed with no pooping altogether (in the potty or otherwise) and on the third night, well let's just say the back-up had taken its toll. This back-up happened to coincide with Priscilla's dad being away on a business trip (this will become important later).
This is where the story gets dicey and I wonder if perhaps I should institute laws of TMI and protection for the poop-averse before I allow myself to continue writing.
Okay. I got a signed document from Priscilla's parents giving me the go-ahead.
After lights out, Priscilla pulled the same poop in the diaper trick. But when Priscilla's mom dumped the poop in the toilet (as she had been doing for over a year because of something she read somewhere that said this would help children understand where poop should go), the backed-up poop was so large and so solid, it clogged the toilet. And not like a poop normally clogs a toilet. This poop clogged the toilet because it literally acted as a toilet plug— preventing everything and anything (including itself) from going down.
The poop was so extraordinary Priscilla's mom took a picture and texted it to her husband, because what else are smart phones for???
If you've got a visual going (my apologies), but you probably realize that a plunger would be of no use in this situation. Priscilla's mom thought and thought about the best of course of action, and finally decided on a wire hanger. I will leave it to your imagination to determine what she did with said hanger. I'm not even sure I know myself since I wasn't there. Obviously.
After the toilet plug was successfully flushed, there was still the small matter of a three-year-old who needed wiping. A LOT OF WIPING. There was so much wiping involved that Priscilla's mom kept instructing her daughter to bend over as far as possible so that she could successfully wipe everything clean.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, Priscilla ultimately bent so far over that she accidentally did a somersault on the bathroom floor.
A bottomless somersault.
With poop yet to be wiped.
And this is where Priscilla's mother's story ends. In fits of laughter. Next to a clogged toilet and a filthy hanger. As far away from poop training as ever. Wishing for matches so she could burn the whole bathroom to the ground.
*This post will self-destruct as soon as Priscilla is able to read.*
That was hilarious. I had that experience the other day with the poopy clogged toilet, that overflowed a little, except no laughter. And may Priscilla be forever blissfully ignorant of her mother’s amazing story…
If it clogged the toilet, that at least means she gave in and went on the toilet right? So that’s a win.
I just edited the post to clarify. Priscilla did not poop in the potty. Her mom has been dumping her poop from her diaper to the toilet for over a year. She read this was a good way to get your child to understand where poop should go.
I was the one that recommended the diaper thing for Priscilla. Sorry it didn’t work. However, you may try backing it up a step and make her ask you for a pull-up when she needs to potty instead of putting it on her and waiting. Once she asked then you will know it is go time. I was the same way. If she was old enough to ask for a pull-up then she was old enough to potty. I have no formal child training other than google and experimenting on my on child,but my daughter was 3 1/2 before she finally got it. She would hold it in and then ask for a pull-up. That’s when the idea of making her sit on the potty to do it came to me. I am sure Priscilla will figure it out.
I bet Taye Diggs is really happy he was in your bathroom BEFORE this happened. Also? The accidental somersault has me in tears of laughter.
Sigh, and then your six year is still peeing her pants, and the urologist says she is constipated. 3 months of miralax later panties are dry, mommy isn’t losing her schmidt, and everyone is happy. 2 months of no miralax later, six year old is again stinking like pee, pants are somehow being pooped in even when she is constipated, and mommy really wishes she wasn’t pregnant so she could both drink a LARGE glass of wine and not smell said daughter’s stinky pee from 45 yards away (whether on her body or in the hamper)
*sigh*
We’ve had that happen before and it made me late for work because the toilet backed up and onto the floor. My friend once made her son go get a stick and do the deed himself (he was seven and it was his poo) while she held a garbage bag ready for the stick. Our boys were horrible about pooping. I finally had to make a poop chart. My oldest is very literal so the chart had poops drawn on. Five in a row, then a star. We crossed a poop off and when he got to the star he got money (he loved money) It worked so good, he was pooping in the toilet like a champ. But since the poop chart was in plain sight from the front door, it was right by the bathroom, we had to explain why we had drawings of poop up. I’ve also been late due to sharts and bad skid marks…poo rules our lives.
I have to say, your blog has made me dread potty training. When I read it to my husband and he recoils in fear. Our daughter just turned 2 (2 weeks ago) and as soon as she did, everyone started nagging us about potty training – even random people at the playground. I have read all of your posts (and several other blogs) and tried to learn from your efforts, but I still feel clueless about when and how we are going to start. Everything you read seems to contradict everything else. Have you thought about what you will/will not do with Harlowe? Hearing about those plans might help.
One of my children had this problem. I will tell you the solution in a message on Facebook.
Take this photo down! Its disgusting that you have it up with nothing but pedos everywhere! Sick
O.M.G. That was HILARIOUS!!! And I swear you must be . . . ahem, I mean Priscilla’s mommy must be living the same nightmare/daymare that I am living. My son REFUSES to poop in the potty. We even tried the bare bottom approach to little avail. He just held it. *sigh* Let me know if you find something that works. I am about at my wits end. Aw, who am I kidding I’ve been at my wit’s end for a few years now. Good luck!
You seriously have me in tears right now! So funny! My son is having the same problem. He has been pee trained for a while now, and is doing GREAT! Big boy underwear and everything. Then comes the poop. He tends to poop either A) When he is outside running around and playing, or B) After dinner. I try to keep a pull up on him outside, but then if he doesn’t go, I figure it’s lurking somewhere close, so I just end up leaving it on him, and sometimes it lasts all day. I’ve done the ‘scrape the poop out of the underwear’ thing, along with the ‘just throw the underwear away’ thing, but I just don’t like doing either. I think he is just scared of pooping on the potty. Honestly DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO. Would appreciate any other ideas people have. I’ve tried having him bring me a diaper/pull up when he needs to poop, but it comes on so quickly for him, he just doesn’t have time to get it…HELP!
I’m thinking you need to share with all of us, because “Priscilla” is not alone. HELP?!?!?
Do you have a potty that you can place on the toilet? I feel when Harrison sits on the potty on the toilet it helps to spread his cheeks better and out plops to poop. TMI
How hard are we laughing at Priscilla’s mommy? HAHAHAHAHA! Glad it’s not you, mommyshorts.
Out of curiosity- does she always wait until she’s in bed, lights out, to poop? Or is it as soon as the diaper is on? Meaning if she was wearing a pull up and playing in the living room would she still do it? If it’s the in bed option, have you considered putting a potty in her room? I know that’s not optimal but maybe she just likes privacy and the comfort of her room. If you put it in there and just tell her “Hey, your potty is right here if you need to poop. We won’t watch you” maybe she’ll go in it. This might come with it’s own complications but at least half the battle will be won.
I think I had the same suggestion too, but don’t go straight to the potty. Ask for the diaper and stay in the bathroom (the bathroom is the place to poop). Wait til she masters that before diaper on the potty.
Ahhhhh, poop everywhere!! My 3 year old will poop in the toilet (but still gives us the occasional nap time diaper poos)….though sometimes he stands up a bit too early, and then he’s yelling about poop on his legs and the floor while I’m in the next room trying to feed the baby. Three cheers for potty training and the big poopy mess it is!
I am happy to hear Priscilla’s mom got to the hanger solution since we “know” people who do the same thing (a weekly occurence in the house for the last 2 years) however I was hopeful while reading this that Priscilla’s Mom would have a better/less digusting way.
I am sitting here in my office crying because I’m laughing so hard. I can completely picture this entire scenario, for better or for worse. Good luck with the poop training!
Oh, and if she won’t poop in the bathroom (in the diaper), take the diaper off. The diapers can ONLY be in the bathroom. Better keep them in there rather than her closet.
Or just tell her they stopped making diapers in her size and stop buying them.
My daughter was the same way! She was potty trained (even at night) for almost a year and still wouldn’t poop in the potty. She would ask for a pull-up. I tried everything from stickers to toys to candy to cupcakes with no luck at all! I am ashamed to say, I was finally at my wits end with all the good intentioned recommendations to help and had enough, so I sat her on the toilet one night, sat on the floor in front of her, and held her legs so she couldn’t get up and made her go in the potty! It took her about 15 minutes, but after that she has gone everyday with no issues! Whew… thank goodness because it could of backfired on me!
This is my life with my three year old. I mean, to a tee. Can I tell you, we have had to have Roto Rooter come out to our house three times to unclog our pipes? Our most recent time the backup was so bad that it caused SEWAGE to back up in the bathroom shower that my in-laws were using while staying with us. I laugh, but mostly, I cry.
I’d also like to add, I have had to CUT UP HER POOPS WITH A PLASTIC KNIFE before flushing to save the pipes.
My daughter was the exact same. And I did the whole poop in your diaper while sitting on the potty thing.
Then I got extra wise and cut a huge hole out of the diaper before putting it in her when she wasn’t looking, brushed off her comments that the diaper “felt funny,” made her sit, and she pooped.
The poop went right through the diaper, into the potty, and woila!
“See! That wasn’t bad at all! You did it! You really did it!”
*Insert pride and confidence in one’s own skills*
And that was just ME…
Potty training has been shamefully easy. Night trained from day 1. One twin has never had an accident since putting on her first pair of panties. The other twin was also instantly pee trained but didn’t like to stop to go poo. She loves loves her Dora panties though so I asked her one day which pair was her absolute favorite. She chose and I put her in that pair for the day. Poop time came and she did her usual poo in her pants then go sit on the potty. I went to her and took the beloved pair of dora panties, looked at it, and exclaimed “oh no! These will never come clean! We have to throw them away!” and had her watch as I put them in the trash. She was DEVESTATED. And I explained that if she pooped in her panties they would never be clean enough to wear again so in the trash they’d go. Pooping in the toilet ever since.
Your daughter is a little older so the panties trick might not work or it may work better if she dirties a favorite pant or skirt. You could always fish it out of the trash later and have a replacement reappear down the road. But this also requires flat getting rid of diapers all together. Not a one in the house so you can’t break down in a moment of stress and go back to it either. It’s super hard and it sucks but it’ll work out eventually.
I’ve had a rough morning over here & that just CRACKED me up. Potty training is for the birds. Everyone told me “girls potty train SO easily & SO early”. Well, my 3.5 year old girl is ALMOST potty trained. I have a 2 year old girl who is sparking “interest” in it & I am so tired from the first bought of training, I’m not ready to go to battle again. I am trying to come up with a plan where the 3.5 year old perfects her “training” by training her little sister…..plan is still not where near complete.
Pour Dawn dish soap in the toilet followed by a cup of super hot water. Close the lid, wait 20 minutes, flush. Poo gone and you get a nice burst of cover up dawn scent to boot.
I love this post for so many reasons, but mostly because every time I think my daughters are the most stubborn creatures on the planet, you make me feel better with a hilarious post about Ma– er, Priscilla.
My daughter was pee trained too, but she was just pooping in her underpants. All. The. Time. I finally gave up and put pull ups back on her. At first she was just pooping in them and still peeing in the potty. Now she is doing both in the pull up. She’s three and a half! I am so at my wit’s end. There is nothing… NOTHING… No bribe, no negative consequence that will make her poop on that potty.
So I feel your pain. A lot. So much so that I kinda couldn’t find the funny. Almost.
My son was in the same situation. He would bring us a diaper when he needed to go and finally we said no more. He held out two days before he really, really couldn’t hold it anymore. This sounds mean, but my hubby and I took him in the bathroom and my hubby blocked the door so he couldn’t leave. I kept trying to convince him to go on the potty while he begged us for a diaper until he finally reached his breaking point. He shouted, “The poop is coming out!” and got up on the toilet and went. There was one minor replay of this a couple of days later, but that was it. Pooping on the potty ever since! I felt horribly mean doing it, but we’d tried everything else! My guy is crazy stubborn (“strong willed child” doesn’t even begin to cover it), so I had to be even more stubborn about it.
I should point out that he was nearly 4 at this point. He also refused to pee on the potty until finally when he was 3-1/2, I put him in underwear and told him, “You know where the potty is, when your body tells you that you need to pee, go on the potty and go.” He had one accident and that was it.
I’m laughing with you..I swear.
Because I know how I feel when I just can’t believe that my children are smart enough to work their way AROUND a problem instead of just doing what I ask. Ahem.
I stressed a lot about the P/Ting. Daycare was awesome about making sure that they weren’t doing this past 4 and honestly, for as much as I worried…one day they both just decided I’m done with the diapers. (Gio still wears pull ups at night to bed and half the time he wakes up SOAKED..I was sick of doing laundry so I bought the pull ups) and they were. –
tell Priscilla to poop or get off the pot. 😉
Rewards worked like magic for our son! I was TERRIFIED of potty training, so I read anything and everything I could and had a whole aresenal of things ready for the “boot camp weekend” I had planned. We did it Memorial Day weekend when he was 28 months old. Everything I read said boys potty train later (especially going #2) but there was another little boy a couple months older than him training at daycare and my son is VERY competitive…so when he saw that boy getting jelly beans for going on the potty, he decided he wanted in on the action. lol We spent 3 days focused on potty training, starting off with me taking him to the potty every 15 mins or so using a timer. He happened to poop on the potty the first day by chance because I realized what he was getting ready to do and rushed him to the potty chair in time. When he got a Matchbox car (which he loves and only costs 99 cents) for pooping on the potty, I think something clicked. The second day he rebelled and didn’t want to cooperate…we ended up with a huge poop mess that day. The third day he started telling us when he had to go and by the end of the week there were no accidents. I know some people are against treats like candy or prizes for going but it honestly worked! His urologist was even surprised he was trained at such a young age. After the first week, he stopped getting M&M’s every time he peed (kids figure that out real quick and will have to pee constantly so they get a treat. ha ha!) but we kept up the poop prizes for a few weeks since he only poops once a day usually. The cost of those cars was totally worth getting him interested in pooping on the potty! Here we are about 4 months later and he’s still doing great (with an occasional accident because he waits too long to go)…and will still occasionally ask for a “poo poo prize” as we called them. Ha ha! But it is true that it just takes some kids longer…you have to find what inspires them to do the deed! From what I’ve read, some kids are afraid to poop on the potty because they feel like their losing a part of themselves. Weird, but I guess it makes sense! Oh, another thing that helped was that we used a small, plain potty chair at first (it made him feel comfortable…he was terrified of the toilet at first) and when he was done pooping, I would let him carry it to the toilet and dump it in…then flush it and tell it bye bye…we told him a story about how the poop goes down the pipes and into the ocean to feed fishies, like on Nemo, so he’d say something like “Here you go, fishies!”! Crazy but he thought it was cool and totally went with it! 🙂 Good luck! She WILL do it eventually!! I understand it has to be so frustrating.
I’ve read a blog before where the girl was about your daughter’s age and she was doing the same thing. Finally, the mom realized that her daughter was holding back because she was afraid of disappointing her. As soon as she let up and told her, “It’s okay. I understand you don’t want to do it. When you are ready, let me know.” she trained quickly after that…like the pressure was off of her. I think once kids reach 3 to 3-1/2, they get SO much more stubborn and defiant…so they use this as a power struggle. And if you stop struggling with them, they might give a little.
OMG!!! i am literally crying…… my 2 are staring at me. xxx
OMG that is so my house. Clogged toilet three times. How does someone so small manage to hold in so much poop? Its like a full grown man poop. For a 32 lb 4 year old, who now tells me that he will poop on Fridays and Sundays; when those days arrive, he changes it to some other random days. He just doesn’t want to do it. Sigh. Poop happens. Tell Priscillas’s mom thanks for sharing 🙂
OMG, I am so happy to read not only this story about “Priscilla”, but also all the comments about potty training and defiant, stubborn kids. Makes me feel not so alone in the struggle. My 2.5 yr old has been reluctantly going pee on the potty, yet still having accidents in the pull-up daily. As for poop on the potty…yeah, that doesn’t seem like it’ll EVER happen over here! And…I have an 8 month old to look forward to potty training eventually too. There doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel!! Ugh! And, if ONE MORE PERSON gives me s*@t about why she isn’t potty trained yet…(like the m.i.l) I swear I’m going to lose it!
Beyond hilarious! My almost 3.5 year old refuses to poop anywhere other than his diaper – it is ridiculous having a full conversation with a child too sizes too big for their changing table. Someday we will laugh about this – and luckily sounds like you already are! Best wishes for poop success in the future!
HILARIOUS!!!! Actually LOL funny!
I MAY have a solution for you!!! If you’re not averse to a little bribery. ;). My dear daughter was less than 2 months from turning 4 and was still scared of the potty, and I was desperate. A friend suggested ‘The Diaper Fairy’. She already knows from older cousins who the tooth fairy is, so it wasn’t a stretch. Basically I told her every day for a week or two that now that she was a big girl, the Diaper Fairy would be coming to check and make sure she was using the potty. If she was, the Diaper a Fairy would take all the diapers and leave her a present. If not, insert your own thing here to suit your own needs – I told her she might not be allowed to have a birthday party. We were already looking at cakes so I knew THAT would get her attention. And it totally worked after about 2 weeks – and once she went, she never ever asked for a diaper again. I wish you luck and I hope you find a solution!
My MIL and FIL are kind enough to point out that ALL of their kids were trained by the time they were 12 months old EVERY SINGLE TIME I change the diaper of a 12 months+ baby around them. Wait…did I just hear an offer to potty train my baby for me?
It just occurred to me that maybe the pooping isn’t about the fact that she doesn’t want to potty train. Maybe “Priscilla” is using it as a bedtime stalling tactic??? Every night after Lucas is in bed, he announces he’s hungry. He’s not hungry. He doesn’t want to go to !#!!@% sleep. I’m sure you’d rather that Priscilla asked for a sandwich. :\
We have been working on pooping with my 3 year old son for the last two weeks. Here is what works for us: he gets poop juice (prune would work well, but pomegranate is the choice here) at breakfast. He goes naked in the morning until he goes because otherwise he poops in his underwear. He gets a prize every time he poops in the toilet. We took him to the store and he picked out the prizes. We also put them on the mantel where he could admire them. We call someone special to tell them when he goes. It is quite a production but it is slowly working. It is getting easier as he gets used to it, but in the beginning it was pretty ugly. Maybe a little poop juice will prevent her from holding it in so long. Boost her fiber intake too!
Hilarious! If it makes you…I mean Priscilla’s mom feel any better, my 2yr old clogs the toilet with her poop from her diaper on a regular basis.
All of this! My eldest did the night-time poop-in-pull-up for a year after being “pee-trained”, until the first morning after her newborn sister came home from hospital. For some reason, it was the cue for her (3.5) to poop in the loo if she didn’t want to be a baby.
My youngest – same age as Priscilla – has for some time been guilty of slyly getting her own pull-ups on to poop. It’s only this last fortnight she’s started pooping in the loo, and I’m holding my breath…
Four is a better age, I promise.
Oh, and we’ve had the TOTALLY clogged toilet too. You’re not alone…
Hilarious! Although, I’m sure not very fun while happening (giggle). My son, at age four, poops in the shower or bath. After months of constipation issues, he finally started going with warm water.. so that started a couple nights of shower poops where I was just happy he was actually going! Fast forward through a few picaso-isc paintings on the shower walls and now it’s a never ending cycle. It’s been a frustrating battle.
A star chart is what finally got things moving for us, too. We keep it in the bathroom and 3yo DS gets to place the star when he does the deed. AND he likes to poop with the door shut and lights off. No joke. He actually pooped at a restaurant last week…with the lights off and door closed, with me outside said door wearing the baby on my back. We were quite the sight! But he still won’t poop at school, except for occasionally in his undies, like yesterday. Poop training is definitely a different animal from pee training.
That is AWESOME. We didn’t have poop in the potty problems. That was the first thing she wanted to do when we got her a potty – and this book, Once Upon a Potty. It is hilarious, and worked for us. http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Potty-Girl/dp/1554072840/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211404101&sr=1-2
My son has been a huge pooper for quite a while now and has been known to clog a toilet on a weekly basis. I employ the use of a “poo-poo stick”, also known as a chopstick.
My daughter wouldn’t poop in the potty. We told her if she wanted to be a big girl and stay up later then her brother (She is almost 4, he is just 2) and have kindle or leapster time in our room she had to poop in the potty.
No other treats or bribes ever worked, but she started pooping in the potty after that when nothing else would work, she would always poop right after we put her night time diaper on.
She still poops in her diaper occasionally but has not had one daytime poop accident since.
Good luck!
Before we were able to poop train my daughter, she used to reach in to her night time diaper and “paint” with it on her wall. That went on until she was almost 4.
You know what two out of three of my lovely boys used to do when poop training? They would poop in their underwear but only when we were out in public, like shopping in a Petco (that particular incident is seared in my brain and it happened only about 8 years ago) and of course I had no diaper bag or wipes handy. Let’s just say I never went to that Petco ever again.
My son was the exact same way. Potty trained and nine months later was still wanting to poop in pull ups. I finally took the pull ups away…at which point he held his poop and got constipated, so I had to give him an enema. Um, super fun thing that isn’t in the parenting manuals! I had to have a conversation with his preschool teacher about what had happened because he had taken to telling people that mommy put a stick in his butt. Oh dear lord. DCFS is surely going to call. However, he is now so petrified that he would have to have another enema that he has been pooping on the potty ever since!
We had pooping issues too and resorted to the “poopy prize” bag. We bought 10 items from Target ( mostly dollar section) that he would Really want and said that if even tried sitting to
Poop he would get to pick a poopy prize. After all 10 prizes were picked he would get a coveted gift…a fireman costume. Beacause he was so scared at first we let him pick a prize for even sitting -and he picked up the game pretty quick. After the first few “tries” he was going poop! So the poopy prizes, with a daily dose of doctor recommended miralax, seemed to get us over the hump. Good luck! Your not alone!
I nannied for a “strong willed” little girl who had a digestive system like clockwork! Every day after lunch, before nap. We sat on the potty for what felt like hours and without fail, as soon as she got her nap time pull-up, she’d poo.
I finally told her this was the last time I was going to change her poo diaper. Next day, she pooped in the pull-up again- I stripped her, handed her a box of wipes and a new pull-up and told her your turn. Could have been a disaster for me but it worked and she pooped in the potty every time after that!
My children’s therapist told me to make a reading spot on the toilet tank, turn them around, and have them sit for 15 minutes. Timing their eating habits, can change the occurance to a different time of day.
I guess reaching for my Nutella toast when Pricilla’s dad went on his business trip was bad timing. Thank God the rest of the story was so hilarious. Thank you for sharing it with us. I’m sure Priscilla won’t mind when she’s able to read 🙂
This made me laugh SO hard. Ohhhh, the adventures of parenthood!! I feel really lucky that Henry took to pooping on the toilet after about five days of freak-outs when we potty-trained him. He pooped in his underwear once and that was it – it was the toilet from then on. You just never know what kind of challenges you’ll have with your kid. We’ll see how my next one does!
But oh, I feel for you, and I hope she learns to poop on the toilet very soon! Good luck. 🙂
This could have been written about my daughter, except for the somersault piece! Same thing – 9 months of putting on her own diaper to poop. We had a stack of “poop presents” which she told us to take back to the store! Our pediatrician had us give her a reward for sitting on the toilet and pooping in her diaper. (I think we might have even given M&Ms for sitting on the toilet and TRYING to poop). But once she pooped in her diaper sitting down, that weirdly did the trick….but we had to seriously bribe!
Oh this just made me laugh out loud at my desk. The fun things that happen with kids….
I said this on, um, I think it was Facebook the other day, but again, so I’m sure you hear it: you are not alone. My daughter refused to poop in the potty for eons after she was otherwise potty trained. We did get her to poop in a diaper while sitting on a potty, and that was fine for her. But then what? Did it help her learn to poop in the potty without a diaper? NO. I even went so far as to cut a hole in the diaper so the poop would, you know, bypass said diaper. That worked once, and it also worked to illicit the wrath of the three-year-old. From then on she would say daily, “Mama!! I need to poop in a diaper not wif a hole in it!!!” So, yeah. And I also tried setting demands. And I also tried bribery. Lots and LOTS of bribery. Nothing worked, and finally we said, “Honey, WHEN will you poop in the potty??” And she said, “When I’m four!” And that’s what she did on her fourth birthday, with zero bribery. Toddlers are terrible creatures. Terrible creatures with adorable faces.
My daughter started pooping in the toilet after she saw her 8 year old cousin pooping in the toilet. Because she wants to do whatever her cousin does. Thank god she was visiting for my daughter’s 3 year birthday. I am forever grateful for that. Once she went potty, she never went back to diaper even when I told her it is okay to poop in her diaper while we are on the highway. (Down side of diaper trained)
Maybe invite diaper trained friends and family, and throw a potty party?
I have a Harrison too!! We counted down the nights till we ran out of diapers, i.e. two more nights till we run out of diapers, and made a big production out of it. We also told him ( a la Nemo ) that what gets flushed feeds the fish in the ocean so he had a visual. He held it for a couple of nights, but finally on his own decided he needed to go. We practically had a party in the bathroom, and even though it was past bedtime, gave him a cookie for the job well done.
All that aside, he is now 4, and will not always tell us he’s gone or has to go. I have found many skid marks on the toilet, floor, bath mats, and his underwear.
Ahahaha I need to stop reading these at work. My boss is going to think I’m not working.
Similar, kinda, thing happened with my daughter. I had just given my daughter a bath and when we got down stairs I let her run around naked for a minute so her lady bits aren’t cramped in a, generally wet, diaper ALL DAY. Well joke was on me. After riding her trike around the living room she tried to climb into her toy box, as any one year old would do. But first she stopped. Looked at me. Dropped a bomb on the carpet. Looked at me again and started crying. Crap. After I got her cleaned up I started on the massive baby bomb she let go. My dog also tried to help me clean it up.
After typing this I’m not sure how similar the situations are, but it’s still poop and it was still everywhere.