Thatsathought’s Weblog

Poop. It happens.

With two toddlers, it happens ALOT. I don’t mind it so much anymore. In fact, I think once you’re anointed “Mom” you acquire some secret super-natural ability to stomach the mess. Boogers, though. Ugh. I gag just typing the word.

Since today was relatively calm, I thought I’d share one of my favorite Poop stories.

When we were potty training Nathaniel, it was quite a challenge to get him to poop in the potty. We had more accidents than successes in the beginning, which is typical. At the time, I was working full-time at Water Missions International (great place!), so Nathaniel was attending a Montessori school. Everyday I’d send about 8-10 pairs of underwear with him to school, and everyday I’d get about 8-10 dirty pairs back. Sometimes my son would even come home commando!

One day I dumped the entire grocery bag full of dirty underwear into the washer without sorting it first. I washed the load and then transferred it to the dryer. About fifteen minutes later I started to notice that my house smelled odd, which was funny since I was cleaning my kitchen at the moment. But rather than the smell of Comet wafting through my home, there was another “odor” that I couldn’t put my finger on. Thirty minutes later the dryer buzzed that my laundry was done. At this point the house smelled FUNKY. I was completely baffled. As I pulled clothes out of the dryer, I saw the strangest brown markings all over the inside of my dryer…and then I found it. A lump of brown spongey mass tucked inside some clothes. I realized at that moment that I may be the first person in the world to wash AND dry human poop! Thus the funkified smell permeating my home!!! If I could have lifted that washer and dryer, they would have been sitting on the curb waiting on the trashman that day. Instead, I sucked it up, donned the classic homemaker yellow rubber gloves and scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed. What can I say? Poop happens. Sometimes it even happens to make it into the dryer.

Because of the nature of the topic, I’ll only offer you one Poop Chronicle at a time. Stay tuned. And feel free to report your own Poop Chronicle.