The day is wound down, the lights are dim, and the sounds of D&D play softly in the background. As I reflect upon the day, sitting in front of the laptop and procrastinating editing my book (slacker!!), I can't help but reflect upon the changes of my life. How different things are now than they were a few years ago, while some of the changes are drastic and beautiful others are subtle and sweet. It's been such an amazing adventure and I wouldn't trade one moment of it.
I have never before felt more privileged than to be a mother. It has so many mixed emotions and each day brings with it a new set of challenges and learning opportunities. I have learned so much but perhaps the one thing that I wasn't prepared for was the one thing that should have been most obvious, the most natural and foul thing: poop!! Oh my the poop!
I find myself overwhelmingly astonished at the amount of feces one small body can hold. I always know it's coming as she starts to do a "hunker-down-and-grunt" routine, I always wait a few minutes after the routine just to be sure she is truly empty but inevitably 10 minutes after the diaper is changed there is a chaser to be sure the job is done and to give me more to do.
Not only is the changing (and changing and changing) a daily occurrence but I have gotten into the habit of checking to see if she is dirty by putting my nose right next to her bottom. The scene usually plays out something like this:
Hubby: "Is she dirty?"
Me: Pick up daughter and put nose right next to diapered bottom, *hack & gag* "I immediately regret that decision!!"
However we have had those instances where a bum sniff isn't necessary as a cloud of stink follows her around and lingers on everything & everyone that she passes. It often leaves me sniffing the air incredulously saying "WHAT IS THAT??"
Though of all the poops I have encountered the "poopsplosion of 2014" that occurred just a couple of hours ago will live in infamy. Let me just tell you it is an event I will never forget!!
After feeding my beauty a dinner of spaghetti I threw her in the tub, 5 minutes into bath time and floaters appear *sigh*. I remove her from the tub fishing out the offending turds when I hear husband yell "She just peed all over the floor!!" my response "get out the carpet cleaner" (which he did). At that point I fill the tub with bleach water and subsequently throw the bath toys that were subjected to nastiness in a sink full of Clorox, keep in mind toddler is running around the house naked while I deal with tub-poo and daddy deals with wet carpet. Once that chore is done I go to find little one so I can toss her in the shower, when lo and behold she is standing in the window of the sliding glass door (yes, still naked for the world to see) but under her lies another pile of logs. Not only did she go AGAIN on the floor she proceeded to walk through one of them and smear the carpet with her colorful array. My reaction? ARGH!!!!!
Yes the mess got cleaned up, and daddy has become quite a carpet cleaning professional, but I hope to never again have a poop trail on the carpet. However, despite all those things I am happy to have a healthy and happy toddler and will willingly clean up behind her no matter the circumstances, it is just one of the jobs of being the mommy plus this is great blackmail material for any future suitors!! (insert evil laughter here)
