Poop, Poop, and More Poop

Disclaimer: read if you want, but as you can tell from the title of this post, it's all about poop!

I can't even begin to describe how frustrated the month of July has been when it comes to poop.  I've been changing diapers for over three years and I feel like I've dealt with more poop in the last four weeks than I have in the past three years.  Exaggerating a little, maybe.  But it's how I feel.

If I really think about it, the pooping problems with Reagan began right about the time we started potty training Kyleigh.  I don't know if it was jealously over her success at potty training or if he just wanted more attention from me or what else it could be.  Whatever the cause, the month of July, Reagan has just chosen to poop in his underwear rather than the toilet.  The first few times were annoying, then it just got out of control.  He wouldn't poop for 3 days; he would just hold it in.  And when he couldn't hold it in any longer, he would poop just a little tiny bit in his underwear.  He would do this THREE TIMES in a day.  Then the big poop would come and into the underwear it went.  Reagan would go through 6-8 pairs of underwear in two days.  It was ridiculous and incredibly frustrating.  I would get so mad at Reagan and then I would feel bad about getting angry.  But I was so sick of cleaning poop out of his underwear three or four times a day.

I finally asked JS what she did and she thankfully gave me a few pointers.  I really didn't want to head down the negative reinforcement path because I generally don't like to parent that way.  So the positive reinforcement plan to was allow Reagan to watch Fireman Sam (his favorite show and one I rarely let him watch because I don't approve of the main character) if he pooped on the potty.  We told him a week ago and I thought for sure he would poop the first day.  Well, he didn't and he also pooped in his pants again.  I really thought that would do the trick.

Then I headed to the park with Vanessa.  I was planning to put Reagan in a pull up because he pooped in his pants earlier that day and I didn't want to deal with any issues at the park.  Of course in my rush to get out of the house, I forgot.  And you better believe when we got to the park, I looked over at Reagan and he was squatting and bending over in the "I can't hold my poop in any longer" position.  I didn't know what to do, but Vanessa suggested I take him behind the tree.  I quickly got to him and told him he was going to poop behind the tree and sure enough the biggest turd came out of his tiny butt!  So I can't get him to poop in the potty, but he'll poop at the park at Kilmer School....

A few days later, I decided I couldn't take the poop in the pants any longer and decided it was time for nakedness.  On Sunday afternoon after quiet time, I took his underwear off and let him play in the house naked from the waist down.  Within 45 minutes of being naked, he said he had to poop 3 times.  He tried twice to no avail, and then finally, on the third attempt, he pooped IN THE POTTY!!!  You don't even know the excitement I had at that moment.  And when we got home from the birthday party, he got to watch Fireman Sam. 

So we'll see what happens over the next week and if there is any improvement.

Now Kyleigh....oh Kyleigh.  She's been about 50/50 when it comes to pooping on the potty vs pooping in her pants.  She started off really well and has digressed a little.  She's a little quirky when it comes to BM's.  If she poops, she insists on removing her underwear or pull up immediately.  Like she drops her drawers right where she is; it doesn't matter if I'm there to help clean her or not.  As I'm sure you can imagine, this is not a good situation.

By far my most hilarious parenting moment happened last week.  I was nursing Rylan when Reagan ran up to the room and told me Kyleigh had pooped on the carpet downstairs (really, she pooped in her underwear, but took off her underwear and the poop fell onto the floor).  I told Reagan I would be downstairs in a minute to clean it up.  After putting Rylan down in the crib, I walked out of her room to find Reagan walking down the hall carrying Kyleigh's poop cupped in his hands!!!!!!  He picked up her poop from downstairs and brought it up to me.  He was honestly trying to be my little helper because he knew how frustrated I was she had pooped on the carpet.  I can't believe he didn't think it was disgusting to pick up her poop and carry it upstairs, but what a great little guy to help mama out ;)  Ah, this will be a good story someday in the future!

So my month filled with poop, poop, and more poop has not been fun.  I am hoping we'll get past this hurdle soon and my days of cleaning out poopy underwear are a distant memory...until Rylan is trained, of course ;)