After reading the blog of a college friend of mine, I realized that as mothers, there is one glaring interest that we have that sets us apart from the non-mothers of the world. That is our interest in poop. As a mother of a 3 week old, I can tell you that this interest starts from the first few hours out of the womb, when they begin to pass the lovely black tar substance that is their first poop. And then the nurses start with the questions: How many poops? What was the consistency? What color? Then come the breastfeeding poops. These are important because they let you know that your baby is growing and actually digesting your milk. At the first dr. visit - more poop questions! How many poops a day? Are they yellow? Seedy? Loose? Hard? Constipated? Moms quickly become experts in examining and dissecting every diaper. Sometimes we even have to write it down just to keep track. When you are not busy feeding a newborn (which is ultimately producing poop), or changing a newborn (getting rid of the poop), then you are probably doing laundry for a newborn. This brings a entire new aspect to poop because now you have to re-examine any article of clothing for poop stains and then determine the best way to stain treat the clothes. What fun!
As they progress into toddlers the fun with poop continues, as confessed by my friend's blog which had something to do with poop and walls. Enough said. Every day's victory or defeat is measured by the ending location of the poop. In the potty? Yea!!!! Great day! In a pull-up or diaper? Oh well, there is always tomorrow. Covering the bed, walls, clothes, or carpet? Don't even go there. What a lovely day it is when you realize you can go out without bringing pull ups and a change of clothes with you.
Preschoolerss bring their own interesting perspective to poop. It is usually decorated with wonderful, visual, descriptive words such as my poop is: slimy, stuck, mushy, or even green. Moms then become a poop detective as we trace over every last morsel our child has eaten in 3 days to determine the culprit. Not enough water = constipation ; Snow cones = green poop; diarrhea = too much juice; diarrhea + fever = virus, not good! The clues go on and on.
The detective skills in elementary age become more emotional. Although I haven't had to deal with bed-wetting or accidents at this age, I understand it to be very traumatic and bring its own set of issues to the table. My most recent experience with school age poop issues came this week with my 7 year old and swimming lessons. After a particularly bad swimming lesson for her, every day since has resulted in tummy issues. For the 20 minutes before her lesson, she just doesn't feel good. Then we have several trips to the bathroom with nothing produced. Then about 20 minutes into her lesson, she rushes into the bathroom and emerges with a smile after 15 minutes. Victory - anxiety induced poop. The rest of the lesson goes (sorry for this...) swimmingly. She gets herself all worked up into a panic about her lesson and then finally, when she relaxes she becomes more confident and capable. Amazing what poop can do.
Okay, can't believe I spent all this time writing about poop. Just an observation from a stay at home mom. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go change a diaper.
1 comment:
you are hilarious.
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