Saturday, March 17, 2012

Things I learned on the Internet #4 - Keeping one's person tidy

It's never a good sign when your kid comes home from daycare in different clothes than the ones they left the house in that morning. A new shirt I can live with, that's usually a soup-related incident at lunch time. We've only had three pant changes since she mastered the Art of Potty. One for a really BIG soup-related incident; one because of, um, a stomach bug; and one last week. Last week's pant change was brought to you by Multiple Points of Failure.

The Parasite is a creature of habit. She is regular in the way your grandmother wants you to be regular and it happens at home, in the evening, without fail. Or at least I thought it was without fail... Since she is well well-versed in the Art of Potty, she's pretty much left on her own to do her thing in there at daycare. I guess she didn't tell anyone that her last visit wasn't #1 related. The Husband picked her and didn't ask for the whole story, but apparently there was a wiping mishap. I gave some thought about how they figured out that something was amiss and realized - with great shame - OMFG, MY KID FAILED A SNIFF TEST!

I don't let her wipe solid matter herself because I have a serious aversion to the thought of poop on hands quickly becoming poop on the couch. And the coffee table. And the kitchen counter. The possibilities are endless, really. However, I'd rather not suffer the mortification of someone playing "Find the Pooper" and my kid being the source ever again, so our latest project has been the Art of Wiping After Potty. Thankfully, wise moms on the internet have given me many tips to teach one's child to wipe their own ass. Here are the ones I am using so far:
Privacy, please!
  1. Those fancy, flushable wipes? Buy some. Yes, they're more expensive than toilet paper. So is replacement underwear. Telling her they're special wipes just for her make The Parasite feel really special and keep her interested in a gross, mundane task. Worthwhile expenditure, no?
  2. We've been making a really BFD about how it's time for her to do this on her own because she's a big girl now. Little kids love to hear about how big they're getting.
  3. We show her how to keep going until the paper comes back clean. 
  4. We encourage her to wrap her hand with the wipe to minimize the chances of brown hand.
  5. I try not to gag at the thought of her getting a little on her hand anyway. It hasn't happened yet so PHEW! But what better way to drive home the importance of handwashing?
Got your own little person figuring these things out? Or one that has just mastered the skill? Any tips I'm missing? Let me know!

5 comments:

the Tsaritsa said...

My Aunt and Uncle have three little boys, and when they were younger they used paper towels for #2. Helped with the "brown hand" issue :)

Storm, The Psychotic Housewife said...

Flushable wipes are the bomb for potty training!

Crazed in the Kitchen said...

Good tips! We will be dealing with this soon, so I was glad to read it.

Catch My Words said...

I'm glad we're long past that.

Joyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

This really made me laugh!! My nearly 2 yo has been toilet trained for a few months now but initially as is common didn't like to poo on the toilet. This is where I just know by your obvious aversion to poo I know you are going to freak out! My darling daughter loves to hide in cupboards, so quite a few times(yes, I know you would think I would have learnt after the first time) I would go looking for her and she would be giggling in the wardrobe. I would open the door and she would happily thrust her hand forward saying 'there you go' and place in my hand a lovely fresh turd! Lol Oh the joy of children.
Luckily I am a nurse so handling/cleaning up my own small child's faeces is really insignificant to me compared to some of the joys I experience daily at work but still.....