Sweet Yet Sour

Years ago, when Anna was just a baby we were given the classic book, “Everyone Poops” by Taro Gomi.  It’s a pretty funny little book, with lines like, “A one-hump camel makes a one-hump poop and a two-hump camel makes a two-hump poop.  Only kidding!”  It’s also a great little book to have around if you are trying to potty-train a small child, such as we are currently.

About three weeks ago Mike decided it was time for Henry to start regularly sitting on a little training potty we have and it’s been meeting with mixed success.  On the one hand, Henry has no real inclination to sit on it and do anything there, but he does enjoy the time seated on the potty while we read special books, such as “Everyone Poops”.  (It was actually Anna’s idea to take her copy of this book and put it by the potty for Henry.)

Henry loves the word “poop”, says it often (we’ve now had to ban it at the dinner table) and sometimes tries to do so on the potty so he can get a sticker.  We’ve created a sticker chart, and if he gets 5 stickers he gets to go somewhere special.  The prizes on Henry’s sticker chart are: The Nature and Science Museum, the zoo, the swimming pool, Nana’s (my mom’s house), Red Robin restaurant, the aquarium and the airport (there’s a small airport near us with a restaurant that views the runways).  So far he’s gotten the five stickers for the Science Museum and is working towards the other prizes when we can get him on the potty.

Henry only goes to the potty when we ask him to (otherwise he will quite happily go in his diaper) or if I tell him that we’ll read “Everyone Poops”, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

In the meantime, I have taken the time to answer some of the questions posed in “Everyone Poops” such as “What does whale poop look like?”  Researchers say it’s mostly wet, watery, mucousy stuff, so I’ve chosen to tell the kids it looks like snot (another favorite word in our house).  So Henry, who still isn’t saying his leading s’s, when we get to that page in the book and I say, “What does whale poop look like?” answers quite happily “Not!”

P.S. – Per Mike’s comment requesting a photo be added to this blog – here you go – whale poop…