The Girl Who Cried Poo-Poo

Lilah has started pointing to her diaper and saying "poo-poo" when it's dirty and needs changing.  Like many moms, I have high hopes about What This Means For Future Potty Training Readiness.  However, she also always says no when asked if she's done a poo-poo and needs her diaper changed.  Toddlers, who can understand them?

For the time being this subject is more like a hobby for Lilah.  We hear a lot about poo-poo even when there is none in the diaper.  She comments whenever the Hubs or I take a potty break.  Her dollies get regular diaper changes, and guests to our home are ceremoniously presented with diapers along with the usual random crap treasures, such as books and teddies and plastic food items.  Our poor cats have been subjected to being chased around the apartment with Lilah waving a (clean) diaper at them and trying to convince them to sit still for its application.  (Walking a mile in my shoes for once!)

Late one afternoon last weekend, we bundled Lilah into the stroller to talk a walk, get some errands done, and pick up some dinner.  She started whining and crying the minute we put her in to the stroller, but she'd been havnig a challenging day, so we didn't think much of it and carried on to see if she would calm down once we were on a busier street with lots to look at.  Three blocks later she was still crying, so the Hubs turned around and brought her home while I carried on with the errands.  Turns out she'd had a dirty diaper and had somehow managed to sneak it past us.  Usually there are obvious signals - much grunting, turning red in the face, and of course the pungent odour.  But this one was sneaky.  I can't say for sure, but there might have been a declaration of "poo-poo" that got lost in the hustle and bustle of getting ready to go.  If there was, it was probably mistaken for general poopy banter rather than an alert as to the State of the Diaper.

The moral of the story?  Don't cry "poo-poo" when there is none.  The villagers won't believe you when you have a real poo-poo situation!