The Pooperfect Remedy

For several weeks now Cole has been pooping in the bathtub. This hasn't happened every bath, but often enough where it was becoming a nuisance. We've started to notice tell tale signs, but have been powerless to change it. Often Cole pees first. Then he strains and bends his knees slightly. Sometimes he goes straight to straining. Sometimes he swishes the water with his hands before he's about to poop like a cat would scratch the ground with her paw after she finishes pooping. Once, Cole pooped and I didn't realize it until he was done swishing. Well you can guess how that turned out. When it has happened, whoever is giving Cole a bath has to call the other in to scoop the poop up.

Keith thought the remedy was to not give Cole a bath immediately after dinner, but since that has been our routine for months now, I didn't really want to deviate from it. That's not to say I didn't try by winding down in his bedroom and reading a few books before bath time. But invariably, he would go over to all of the electronic devices (alarm clock, monitor, floor lamp) and start getting wound up about it, which defeats the whole purpose of winding down.

Enter Allison and Shawn. I'll post pictures from our visit shortly, but for now let me tell you that having friends with slightly older children can really come in handy. We told Allison and Shawn about our pooping problem, or, more accurately, Cole's pooping problem. Their solution - bring him over to the toilet and let him poop there.

Genius!

And guess what? It worked! Keith has done it twice already. He set Cole onto the toilet and held him in place. Cole did his business and giggled at the same time.

The result? A pooperfect remedy. Baby poop in the toilet instead of the tub. And did I take a picture? Of course I did! It's his first poop in the toilet for crying out loud. But Keith made me swear NOT to publish it. You'll just have to imagine it.