Potty training Hooper has been one of the most difficult things I've ever attempted to do. Hooper quickly got the peeing part of it down but continued to struggle with the pooping part. Together my husband and I tried every method under the sun. We bribed him to poop on the potty. We tried to guilt him to poop in the potty. I'm sorry to say we even resorted to punishment. In our defense, Hooper was content with pooping everywhere BUT the potty. Underwear, floors, nothing was sacred to this boy. As all the experts said he would, one day it just clicked with him. It was ALL his idea and it didn't take long before he was pooping like a champ.
One of the first days he decided to poop in the potty I was home with him for Christmas break. Hooper asked to go poop early that morning and I thought, "Wonderful! Check that off my to do list!" An hour later he asked to go again and still I thought, "Look how good he's doing. Maybe shouldn't put quite so much fiber in his diet." Then not thirty minutes later I hear those words again, "Mom! I gotta go poop!" So once again we march in the bathroom and prepare to use the potty. I leave Hooper (the child likes his privacy) and when I check on him again he's done and staring into the potty.
I asked Hooper, "Are you done?"
He replies, "Yes! Look at all the poops! Let's count them! One, two, three, four, five, six!
I have never had such a mixture of pride and revulsion in all my life. The thought of standing over a used toilet and analyzing feces was somewhat gross to me. But pride is often the downfall of any parent and I was proud that my son had finally conquered potty training. And darn it, I was proud that he could count his poops.
