Consider yourselves warned

Look, you've been reading a baby blog all this time and there's been nary a mention of poop or pee. So far, you've been lucky. But, my friends, the time has come. I can no longer spare you from the potty talk that consumes our lives in this little corner of the world. Consider yourselves warned.

Many of you know that Owen has been using the potty off and on for many months now. He is by NO MEANS potty-trained as it's not consistent and, frankly, we've done no real potty training as I've been scared to start too early or turn him off from the process altogether. There was a stint of several weeks there when he was asking to use the potty about 60-70% of the time...even in restaurants, out shopping, in the middle of playing at the park, etc. He'd ask to go and we'd go. Then, sure enough, he'd go in the potty! Now we're back to successes only a handful of times a week. In any case, we've been potty aware for a long time now.

HOWEVER, we may just need to actually formalize this process and get a move on. Why, you may ask? Well, let's just say that diaper removal is Owen's latest and greatest party trick. When it's a "clean" break that results in simply streaking through the house, it's one thing. But when the offending diaper is...uh, let's just say "full"...it's an altogether different story. One that never has a happy ending in my book.

Suffice it to say that we've had several of these incidents now. In fact, we've had enough that Owen can play out the entire exchange all on his own...a little one man show. Take, for instance, this post-nap replay from several days ago:

I go into Owen's room to get him up from his nap. As I walk through the door, he says "Pull poopy diaper."
The smell hits me.
"Pull poopy off. Puuuul."
I walk over and look down in the crib to see a big mess. My shoulders slump. I sigh. BUT, I don't even have time to say a word before Owen chimes in.
"Why-a do dat? Why-a do dat? Mess."
I halfheartedly chuckle and say "Yeah, buddy. Why did you do that? It is a mess."
AND here's the part that got me. He says...
"Assindent. Okay, buddy."

So, it WAS kinda an accident and it really WAS okay. And best of all, he knew that...he knew that I wasn't happy but I wasn't really mad either. That's great and all...but man, I am sooo not enjoying this new game. Until we can get that whole potty thing to be a regular and consistent part of life, it might just be time to consider duct tape on the diapers.