Big, Giant Poooops!

First off, why do kids have to take off all of their clothes to poop? Porter will come tearing out of his room clothes half on, his arm stuck in an unnatural position over his head because his shirt can’t stretch enough for his entire body to come out through his sleeve. He kicks shoes in every direction as he continues to undress. “Mama, I gotta pooooop!” Out of my three he is my shining star—the only one of my kids that is potty trained. In fact, as soon as he understood he would get candy for going in the potty, he was there! Porter is also my favorite child because he can use the potty.

Although teaching Porter to urinate in the potty was really very easy, teaching him to defecate was not. First off how do you teach someone that really? How do you even explain that? I realized that neither I nor my husband was qualified to teach the finer points of toilet etiquette so we did what many others have done before us. We called Grandma. Grandma suggested that we consult a pro. So after a trip to our local library I arrived home packing the Everyone Poops book.

I had heard of this book but had never read it. What I found was Origami type pictures of animals, bugs and anatomically correct people pooping in a very graphic manner. It was disgusting! I knew this would work.

So I sat down and read this book to my son. I read this book many, many times a day over the course of two weeks. After the fifth reading or so my son pooped in the potty and proudly announced, “Everyone poooops”! It was shortly after reading that book that my son became obsessed with Big, Giant Pooops.

You see my husband also read the book over, and over, and over again to my son over the course of two weeks. But when my husband reads books he improvises. On the page with the elephant and the large elephant sized poops my husband said the phrase that will go down in infamy in our house, “See Porter the elephant makes Big, Giant Poooops!” So now anytime my son poops he will question as to whether his poops are in fact “Big, Giant Pooops”. It’s great when the event happens in a public restroom. Even better when you are the one pooping and a precocious two year old is adding commentary, loudly. “Mama you made Big, Giant Pooops! Dey da biggest pooops I seen! Yeah, Mama!” This convo took place in a packed retail store bathroom. When we exited the stall the women waiting in line all clapped for me. Yeah, good times….

I’ve guesstimated that to date I’ve spent weeks in the bathroom trying to get children to use the potty for its intended purpose. I’ve hit the desperation point. I’m willing to try anything. I wonder if I re-tile and change the color scheme, if that would help this process? So you might say that potty training has been difficult. Any parent who’s succeeded knows that’s an understatement.
Other books we tried....