And Least Poop Wasn't All Over the Crib

This morning, the Pookie woke up and played in his crib for a while, like he does the majority of his mornings. (This is such an unbelievable phenomena in our house, since the Pumpkin NEVER did that.)

The Pumpkin was already awake, so she and I went to the nursery door to go get him up and out of the crib. Not only does the Pumpkin love to go get him (and has before gone in without me before I was ready to get him), but she knows the routine. On our way down the hall, she said, "I'll open the door, and you get Pookie out and change his diaper and then he and I can go play!"

So she opened the door... and...

That baby was in the middle of getting naked! For the first time ever, he had unzipped his sleeper and was pulling his arms out of it. For a second, I thought, how cute! But then I realized that his boy parts were hanging out of the front, unzipped part.

Um, where was his diaper?

That's went I realized the normal routine, which the Pumpkin had outlined so nicely, was going to change. Instead of the normal pick-up, hug and squeeze, and cheek kisses I usually give him first thing in the morning, I had to carry him awkwardly to the changing table to better assess the daiperless situation.

I was especially worried about his peeing outside the diaper, in his sleeper, in the crib and possibly on me while I carried him. At least, I was worried about that... until... I smelled the poop.

Once I smelled the poop and realized his diaper was pushed down one leg of his sleeper, I hurriedly carried him even more awkwardly straight into the bath tub. When I stripped the sleeper off of him, I found the poop. I big ball of it at the bottom of a leg of the sleeper.

Seriously gross.

Oh, I also found poop smeered all over the inside of the sleeper, all over his (adorable little baby) bottom and all down one of his legs. Surprisingly, none was on his hands--and I worked hard to keep it that way.

I had to wipe him down with multiple wipes, then spray him off with the shower nozzle, soap him all up and wash him off again. He was not thrilled about the shower nozzle, even though it's hand-held so I was able to direct it below his head while he stood there. Actually, he was not happy about the whole thing.

But once he was cleaned up, toweled off, diapered, dressed and snuggled, he was in a great mood and ready to play with his sister!

So what the heck happened? I just don't know. Was a diaper mishap that caused the poop to get outside of the diaper, so he started taking his sleeper off because it was uncomfortable? Was it because he was taking his sleeper off that the poop fell out of the diaper? Did he unzip his sleeper, push his diaper around and off, then the poop fell out so he tried to get out of his sleeper?

The boy does love putting his hands down his pants and inside his diaper. Unfortunately, he still puts his hands in his mouth a lot, and that's why he wears a sleeper to bed! (And onsies to school under his clothes!)

You know what? I'm going to stop trying to analyze it, unless it happens again. If it happens again, I'll have to evaluate the sleepers--maybe find ones that zip in the back or something. Let's call it a freak diaper incident. It's just another poop story to add to the list.

It wasn't so bad, as poop stories go. But did I mention that I hadn't even had my coffee yet?

Underwear at Night

At the risk of jinxing it, I'm going to post now about our recent nighttime potty training/learning. I'm going to skip the going-to-bed part of my nighttime stories, cause I'm not quite ready to write about what we are doing about bedtime yet. But there is more the nights than just bedtime...

The Pumpkin has been wearing pull-ups to bed for a long while now. The two weeks prior to this week, she was waking up with a dry diaper. Not only that, but she was actually using the potty and changing into underwear once she got up, instead of getting up and refusing the potty to just pee in her diaper as had happened previously.

Two weeks of not peeing in the pull-up seemed pretty consistent. So last weekend, we finally pulled the trigger, and she got to wear her underpants to bed! How exciting! What a big girl she is! You see how we talked it up. We'd even been telling her for months that at some point she would get to wear underpants to bed.

The weekend went great. She woke up dry, and we quickly took her to the potty once she came in our room. It was a smooth transition... which we of course did not expect to last forever. We knew that there would be middle-of-the-night bed wettings. It was just a matter of when.

Our first was Monday night. Remember, this was only the fourth night of underwear at night, so we didn't really have a middle-of-the-night plan of action. Or brain power.

The Pumpkin comes in our room just after 3 (3:04, for those who care), but stands in the doorway, upset but not really fussing. None of this is unusual, although she normally comes right in and into our bed. So Londo tells her to come on in to bed. She hesitates, but still doesn't speak. Again, not completely unusual. Londo encourages her to come on.

She climbs in bed, but just as she is lying down, I smell pee. As soon as I smell it, I realize the implication and grab her up, practically yelling, "I smell pee!"

Now she starts wailing and flailing, cause I was so smooth with pulling her out of our bed before she got pee on it and notifying Londo of the pee smell. Londo jumps out of bed, and we both remind her that she's wearing underwear and explain to her that she peed and we have to clean it up and get her in new underwear and PJs. She starts to calm down as I clean her up, and Londo gets the bed sheets off her bed and new undies and PJs.

As clean as I can get her with wet wipes and dry, Londo takes her back into bed while I run the peed on stuff down to the washing machine. There was a huge puddle of pee in her bed (thank goodness for waterproof mattress pads, am I right???) and all over her underwear and nightgown. She just peed it all out, as she would have in the diaper.

No harm done. Just disturbed sleep. (Oh, but I couldn't back to sleep for another 30 minutes, and then the Pookie woke up and I was up with him until 5:30!!! URG!) What's new in our house.

We talked about it on Tuesday, reminding her of what she should do in the middle of the night.

Tuesday night, she came into our room about 3:30. Londo and I now had a plan. If she wanted to come in our bed, she now has to use the potty before she does. So when she came in, Londo didn't think she was wet and told her she had to use the potty first. A little arguing, but she ended up going to the potty. But Londo realized that there was actually some pee in her underpants, though not on her nightgown. When I checked, there was also some pee in her bed too.

The good news was that it wasn't nearly as much as the night before. And she did go on the potty and had plenty to go. So she must have felt herself start to pee, stopped herself and then came into our room. I was taking that as a good sign!

Once changed into new undies and PJs, she went to bed with Londo. I put the sheets in the wash, and was able to get back to sleep pretty easily.

Last night, guess what? She came into our room about 2:30 and said, "Daddy! Daddy! I have got to go potty!" Londo took her to the potty, while I checked her bed.

DRY! Underwear, nightgown, sheets, everything! DRY!

And get this: After she used the potty and washed her hands, Londo said, "Okay, time to go back to bed." AND she went into HER room! She layed down in her bed and went back to sleep without anyone with her!

I'm really really hoping that things continue in this trend. I figure there will likely be more middle-of-the-night accidents, but she definitely does not seem to want to lie in it and is listening to her body! Huge wins, in my book! And at night in our house? I will take any win I can get!

Potties and Underpants

Before the Pookie was born, the Pumpkin had been interested in the potty. I think we could have pushed it then, but with the baby coming we did not think it was a good time. Then she went into her recent regression, which included potty training/diaper changing regression. When we tried to encourage the potty by asking if she needed/wanted to go, we mostly got "No, thanks" or some variation of screaming no. She was perfectly happy to sit in her wet diaper. She WANTED to be in a peed in diaper. She WANTED it to leak. She told us these things in no uncertain terms.

Our response of course was too bad. You can't stay in a pee diaper and WE do not want it to leak. So if she wasn't going to use the potty, we were at least going to change her diaper. Even if she screamed the whole time. Ah, parenthood...

This was frustrating because at school she'd been using the potty all the time. At home? Forgetaboutit. Except right before bed, but that had been part of the bedtime routine since she was 10 months old when we found out it was much easier for her to poop when sitting on the potty.

We thought it must be a problem of motivation. We tried putting her in underwear, hoping that would get her excited to use the potty. But no, that just made sure we'd have leaks and clean ups. More recently, we tried bribing encouraging by using chocolates as incentive, and that actually was mostly working.

Over the last week, a few things (in addition to the chocolates rewards) converged to make potty training the Pumpkin not only possible, but a good idea.

1. The Pumpkin's school had requested that she start wearing underwear to school. She is always using the potty there, and apparently she's keeping her pullups dry in between. They think she's ready. We told her about it, and she was excited.

2. We've stopped asking and started telling her that it's time to go potty. A couple weeks ago I was talking with my sister, and she mentioned that she noticed we ask the Pumpkin questions which can create conflict when some things aren't up for discussion. She said that she and her husband had been doing that too, but things have improved since they stopped asking and started telling. So I told the Pumpkin that just like at school, when we say it's time to go potty, it's time to go. We aren't asking anymore. (We have tried this before, especially for the potty, but it did not work at the time, which brings me to the next item...)

3. She's just ready. I can't say it better than Karen did in a recent post when she said her potty training theory, "It's easier to wait until a child is ready than to fight them until they're ready." Because we were fighting with her and struggling with this... and then... she was ready. And it's been pretty darn easy.

4. The blizzard(s) had kept us all house bound for over a week. No pressures of holidays, no worries that we need to find bathrooms in public places. Just all of us at home for a week with a child who was ready for potty training and excited about wearing underwear to school. One of us was able to bring her to the bathroom every 1.5 to 2 hours, all day long. This was good timing!

5. I think one of the biggest issues for my girl was the transition, so we've been working on that in many areas. For the potty training, this means actually getting her into the bathroom and on the potty. If we force her, she just screams and doesn't go--until she's got her pants back on. But if we can get her there and on the potty, she will usually go right off, no problems. So we are trying to give her time to get ready for the transition, as in we are going to the potty after we put this away or right before dinner or in 2 minutes. Also, in an effort to keep up with the playful parenting, I've been physically taking her to the potty in fun ways. I ask her if she wants to be carried to the potty right side up or upside down (her answer is always upside down), or tell her she's a sack of potatoes and I need to throw her over my shoulder. This morning, she said she wanted to be carried like a giraffe, so we stuck our necks out and I walked stiff-legged like a giraffe.

On Monday, I bought her lots of new underwear. She is loving the underwear and is excited to pick out a pair each morning. She is excited to put them on and wear them to school. She is still in pullups at night, but she's okay with that and we are okay with that. Over the last 5 days, she had two accidents, both of which were yesterday evening. Poor Londo had both kids, and the Pumpkin was just being a handful. But other than that, she is doing great!

We are excited that she's growing up, that we don't have to change as many diapers and that our grocery bill is going to be reduced!

Oh, Poopy!

Sometimes, it feels like all I do is nurse the infant and change diapers. The nursing is something that I worked hard to be able to do to with both the Pumpkin* and now with the Pookie. Even through the early days and weeks of sore nipples and constant wakings, through the fussy 5 week nothing-but-nursing-and-being-with-mommy-will-do phase, and now through the 6 week growth spurt and crying on and off the boob for no reason, breastfeeding the infant is so worth it and rewarding to me.

But all the dirty diapers? That's just something you have to deal with as a parent and/or child caretaker. Both of my kids are in diapers (the Pumpkin in Pull Ups), and they generate a good amount of waste. Unfortunately, the waste doesn't always make it into the diaper. For instance, there was a couple times when the Pumpkin pooped in the tub.

And now we can add another time... last night. That was fun. Luckily, the Pookie had fallen asleep, and I was able to put him in the swing while I helped Londo clean up the tub and the Pumpkin.

Early the next morning, just after Londo left for work, the Pookie had a big poop. I heard the big poopy noise as he lay beside me, nursing himself back to sleep (he'd been grunting and squirming in the way I know means he was about to fart or poop). Well, I knew that noise, and I knew I had to jump out of bed and change him quick before his diaper leaked and poop got all over my bed. So, I quickly got him to the changing table and waiting to see if he had more. Once I opened his diaper, he pooped more. I started wiping him, and he pooped again. All over my hand. Really gross. I was able to get a wipe to clean up my hand without getting the poop everywhere. And then he pooped again, with an explosive shot that would have gone across the room if I hadn't already had my hand right there and was able to use the diaper to stop it.

Ah, good times. But, you know, he's an infant. What can you do. The bright side is that that was the only time he'd pooped all night. Which means that he's going less often and in bigger amounts at once. He's consolidating his poop, like he's starting to consolidate his sleeping in to naps (just starting to lately, but not there yet).

As for the Pumpkin, she is in Pull Ups and does use the potty. In fact, we've been putting her on the potty since she was 10 months old. We've not really done potty "training" with her, but we thought it was a good idea to put her on the potty occasionally to get her used to the idea of using the potty. We found that something about sitting on the potty seemed to make it easier for her to poop, and she poops pretty regularly on the potty. She pees too. But with a no pressure attitude from us, and she still goes in her Pull Ups.

You see, I read an article about elimination communication when she was around 10 months. And while I was not ready to really put in the effort to get her diaper-less so young, I really took away from the article the idea to get her used to using the potty. We (as a society) put our kids in diapers for the first 2-3 years of their lives, basically training them to use the diaper when they have to pee or poop. Then, we suddenly say that we want them to do the opposite. Sit on this brand new thing and go in there, not in your diapers. Do a 180, and try not to make any mistakes.

Instead, Londo and I decided to sit the Pumpkin on the potty at least before baths every night starting at 10 months old. Any time we saw the cues for her needing to poop, we would get her to the potty so she could go (or finish going) in the potty. When we stopped doing baths every night (we do every 2-3 nights, or more often as needed), we made the bedtime routine: sit on potty, wash hands, brush teeth. Around when the Pumpkin turned 2, we made her "morning routine" the same thing. We've now started offering the potty more often. After hanging out with her potty-training cousins last weekend she even told Londo she needed the potty and she peed and pooped on it!

We are going to go full force into potty training this month, I hope. She starts pre-school on August 31st, and they said they will work on potty training if we are doing it at home (but won't do it for us on their own, like I know some places will). I had considered starting potty training sooner, but we were concerned about all the recent changes in her life--especially the baby brother! Also, Londo and the nanny didn't seem ready. But I really want her to go into school with "working on potty training" in her papers. So the nanny is offering the potty more (I hope), and we are as well. Still no pressure from us, but I hope that the kids going at school will help her want to do it to.

Won't it be nice to have only one kid's diaper to change, even if he poops on me while I'm doing it?

*Check out this website! Write up your story and submit it! Let's support each other in our endeavors to breastfeed.

Supergenius Knows Her Diaper

The Pumpkin wears Huggies Overnites diapers to bed. These diapers have Mickey Mouse is on the diaper, which she and I have talked about before. (Click here and look at the size 5 diapers to see the picture that we talk about.) So last night, as I'm putting her diaper on, and we have this conversation:

Pumpkin: Mouse!
caramama: Yes, that's Mickey Mouse on your diaper. What's he doing?
Pumpkin: Mouse seeping. (Mouse is sleeping.)
caramama: That's right! And who is with him?
Pumpkin: Teddy bear!
caramama: That's right! You are so smart!

I still can't get over that I can ask her real questions and she can answer. It really just floors me. While she's not ahead of all milestones, she really is quite amazing with her communication skills. In fact, recently a friend mentioned that she keeps thinking that the Pumpkin is older than she really is. I said that it was probably because she is so ahead with talking. Londo looked at me and asked, "Really?" I just nodded and said, "Oh, yeah. Most kids have some words and phrases right now but don't communicate as well as our girl. This is just an area that she happens to be ahead in." (I want to be sure I set his expectations for any future kids, as well as friends and relatives kids.)

I've got a post I'm working on in which I'm going to list a bunch of cute things we taught her to say, some that we didn't teach her, and some that she taught us. I'll probably post that next week.

I also have another post in which I want to note the areas in which the Pumpkin isn't up to or ahead of the milestones (besides sleep and self-soothing), because she has those areas too. Although she is a supergenius!

This Is the Way We Wash Our Hands

Some people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. We've all seen it happen, and there have even been studies about it. You're in a public restroom and a person leave the stall (or I suppose walks away from a urinal in the men's room) and walks right out the door, not even pausing at the sinks. We all know that there are people out there who do this.

I have no idea why someone would do this! It's not hygienic and it's incredibly gross. Bathrooms are dirty, and bacteria are spread when people don't wash their hands. Spread from urine and feces! Really, what is wrong with those people who don't wash their hands? Didn't their parents teach them this essential bit of hygiene?!?!?!

The other day, I learned (by anecdotal stories, not as an eye witness, thank goodness) that there are people who don't wash their hands and then go to parties and take food (like chips) out of serving bowls WITH THEIR DIRTY HANDS!!!

I don't know why I never considered this before. I guess I try to live in my little bubble world where people don't really do that. (Who would do this?!?!) But apparently, I have coworkers who have seen it happen. I'm happy to say that the known offenders are people I have not worked with nor been to the same parties with, but who knows what others people are out there with their dirty hands sticking them into food that I want.

Just gross.

So parents? Please, please, please teach your children the importance of good hand washing after using the bathroom and before eating. Want a tip for making sure you and the kiddos are washing them long enough? Sing Happy Birthday twice as you lather and rinse! It's never too early to start. My little one loves to wash her hands, and she'll insist "hans. hans. hans." until I hold her up to reach the water and soap. And she's only 16 months old! Start early and be consistent. Model this behavior as well!

And don't bring the book with you into the store bathroom. It will get flagged. Now, if only we could flag the people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom...

Personalizing the Songs

Speaking of making up songs for the Pumpkin, want to hear a verse of You Are My Sunshine I made up just for my girl?

First, let me preface. Since she was, well, born, we've been singing You Are My Sunshine to her during the diaper changes. She rarely likes diaper changes, and she used to pitch quite the fit during them, so we'd sing to distract her. Londo sings about three real verses of the song, but I made up my own second verse.

The first real verse, for those whole don't know, is:
You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are gray.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

Here is my second verse:
You are my Pumpkin*,
My only Pumpkin.
And I love you
All of the time.
You'll never know, dear,
How much you're wanted.
Please don't fuss, cry or whine.

I also have a made-up third verse, but it's not that good and I use it only when I'm desperate. And it constantly changes, so I'm not going to share it, but it's that she's my baby, my only baby and I try to rhyme girl and world. Eh.

The Pumpkin will do the word "gray" and "away" (or her version of those words) for the real first verse, but only today did she end of my second verse correctly with a sound that was very similar to the word "whine."

Think she'll at least listen if she's telling herself that? Hehe.

*I actually sing her real name here, but Pumpkin fits nicely too.

Can't Smell a Thing

Did I mention that I'd just started using Zicam to help alleviate my colds, which came one right after another? Once I found out that they were safe to use during breastfeeding, I decided to try it. I thought they were great! When I went one day without it during my last cold, my symptoms got so much worse. Once I started using it again, the symptoms were much better, and the cold quickly ended.

When the second cold came right on top of the first, I immediately started using the Zicam again. It seemed to help, and I thought it was just fantastic. I little swab around the nose 3-4 times a day, and my cold was shorter and easier. Even though I had heard that it could cause lose of smell, I thought that wouldn't be a big deal because you can't smell much with a stuffy nose anyway.

Well, let me tell you something. Lose of smell might seem like a great thing when you are changing the baby's poopy diapers, but because your sense of taste is strongly affected by how things smell, it is not such a great thing when you are trying to enjoy a chocolate croissant! Or really any other food or drink.

I have indeed lost my sense of smell... not completely, as I can smell very potent things when I hold them up to my nose so my nose is literally on it. Not only does this affect my sense of taste, but it is impairing my mommy-abilities too. At one point over the weekend, Londo came downstairs and said that the Pumpkin must have one poopy diaper, which she indeed did. But I had NO IDEA because I couldn't smell a thing. My poor child was sitting around with a diaper full of stinky and I had no idea.

As my nose gets clearer and clearer of the snot, I'm hoping that my sense of smell will come back completely. I'd like to be able to enjoy chocolate again, and waking up to the smell of brewing coffee, and the smell of bread baking (I did indeed make homemade bread!).

On the bright side, I haven't smelled any phantom poop smells in a while. I never thought I'd miss that...

Phantom of the Diaper

Today I'm going to discuss an unusual phenomenon. I don't know if anyone else will relate, but I'm going to put this out there. I know that at least my sister has experienced the same phenomenon, so I don't think I'm completely alone. I like to call it... Phantom Poop Smell.

The first time this happened to me, the Pumpkin was only a few weeks old. She would poop pretty often, and it was those breastmilk poops that were so liquidy but not truly rancid smelling. (It's a mommyblog. Of course I'm going to discuss poop in detail!) Poopsplosions were not uncommon in (or out of) our house. (BTW, I totally thought I made up this word one night in the first few weeks of babyhood! But apparently other people, especially other parents, use this word too! For us, it indicated the poop exploding out of the baby with such a force and amount that it would blow out the back and sides of the diaper. Those who've had babies know exactly what I'm talking about.)

One evening, I'm nursing the Pumpkin in the chair in our bedroom. I was right next to the changing table in our room and across from the Diaper Champ (love it!). I'm just sitting there, and I SWEAR I smell baby poop. It's a distinctive smell, for those who haven't had the pleasure, so I know that is what the smell was. After the Pumpkin is done nursing, I search all over for poop that might have splattered on something. I sniff over the Diaper Champ (which is letting no smells out, as usual). I even thoroughly check the Pumpkin. No poop anywhere.

I think I'm crazy or hormonal or just too exhausted to be smelling clearly. Or maybe I've just missed it. Or maybe I've just been around too much poop. Anyway, I let it go.

But within the next few months, every now and then, I smell my baby's poop. Sometimes, she's no where near me. I could be at work, and I smell it. I know there is no poop near me, not even a diaper bag! But I get this twinge of smell. The Phantom Poop Smell!

After she started solids, the smell of her poop changed. Phantom Poop Smell changed to match it. I don't smell it nearly as often, but every now and then, I get a whiff. Then there was the one time I was really confused in the car when the Phantom Poop Smell wouldn't go away--it turns out that I DID leave a poopy diaper in the car by accident! It was on this occassion I told my sister the whole phenomenon, and she admitted to gettting the Phantom Poop Smell at times as well!

I can't remember the last time I smelled it. It's been months. I hope it's gone for good. But you can never be sure when (or who) it will strike next! Before you call me crazy, be sure you have something good-smelling near you to combat the Phantom Poop Smell in case it gets you too!