Poo. Before babies, I would say dealing with poo would have been my biggest fear. Fast forward nearly three years and I can honestly say, sorting out nappies and potty training for my kids has not been the phobia that I thought it was. Yes, it stinks and yes it is messy but most of the time, you simply clean up the bums, buff to a fine polish and place on new nappy without so much as a blink of the eye. Cleaning the bums of your own kids is no different than cleaning your own bum.
On the other hand, any other kid and I would probably retch. I have helped on a couple of occasions a couple of other Mums clean up their babies soiled nappies and the smell is so different that I really thought I would puke. Why is this? Is there some sort of family odour (bad or otherwise) that bonds us Yangs together? I guess science could answer this question but I have yet to come across any research on this subject (and I read a lot of science papers everyday). Maybe it is just the shear daily drudgery of nappy changing that makes one immune to these things. Mind you, when you have had liquid poo projectiled into your face, wee all over your clothes, had to scoop poo from the bath and had to manually fish out half-stuck constipated poo from your kids, then I guess not much else can phaze you.
Last week, Aimee successfully pooed into her potty. Upon getting up she was really curious to see the product of her efforts. All the books say this is normal so I let her peer into the bowl (although I was actually worried she would pick it up – I haven’t let go of all my squeamishness!). After studying it for a few seconds, she looked at me and beamed a big grin. What’s up Aimee I said, she replied, Oh wow, poo has got sweetcorn in it!
And sure enough, poking out of the poo was a couple of kernels of undigested corn. I laughed out loud so hard, I thought I would poo myself!!!Ah, the joys of poo. Now, enjoy your breakfast.
