Leon’s getting the jist of potty training at long last. HOORAY! The era of nappies is finally coming to an end for us! But, it’s the interim ‘device’ that is causing us grief.
It’s great that these plastic ‘potties’ help kids with that first leap into being a ‘big kid’. But it’s what you do with it ‘post-deposit’ that totally sucks. My husband has been complaining lately about emptying and cleaning the bloody thing, and I’m totally with him. Despite the “Yay! Good job, matey!” and “You’re a big boy now!” praising him for his efforts, dealing with the aftermath makes us dry retch. As Kenny Smyth says in the film Kenny: “There’s a smell in here that’ll outlast religion.” It lingers.
This week, to top his progress, Leon decided to take matters into his own hands and be a REALLY big boy…
Master three went missing for a while on Monday evening. A lot longer than usual, as he’s always hanging around the kitchen asking for food. “I hun-gwee mummy!” is the constant whine that I liken to fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. My husband had just arrived home from work, when Leon came running to him with a resounding “Daddy! I did a BIG POO-POO!” He went into the bathroom to investigate. Sure enough, Leon had done as reported - BUT HE TRIED EMPTYING IT HIMSELF. There was #$%* all over the floor and toilet seat. Darling husband cleaned it up, whilst Leon came to me asking for an Easter egg for doing such a good job (yes, they were the ‘potty-training’ bribe).
I went in to use the bathroom shortly afterwards. Hang on. The hand towel is missing. I lifted up the lid of the toilet, and there it was: the hand towel, soaking in the toilet bowl in amongst all the…OMG. He’d used it to mop up the spill, and decided the best place for it was in the toilet. I suppose if I was three, I would have done the same thing. Smart kid.
The potty was promptly retired and new ‘kid seat’ installed on the big loo, complete with step. We explained the change to Leon - even took him shopping for it to make him feel like part of the process. A brilliant improvement, we thought…until the massive meltdown last night because the potty wasn’t there anymore. AAAAAARRRRRGH!!!