For the non-parents out there, let me just state that parenting is at least 75% dealing with the bodily functions of your children. There’s nothing sacred about it — so if you [...]]]> Today was day 3 of Maia’s potty training (revisited), and we have a new milestone:  it was her first accident free day wearing big-girl pants!

For the non-parents out there, let me just state that parenting is at least 75% dealing with the bodily functions of your children. There’s nothing sacred about it — so if you don’t want to hear a poo story, bail out now…

And to top it off, it was also her first time ever going poop on the potty.  Not just any potty, but, a full sized toilet in a public restroom. She wasn’t so keen on it at first, but, I made silly faces at her and she giggled and played for a minute. And then suddenly, she got very serious, and sternly said, “I have to go pee pee” and stared off into the distance. Then she grimaced and grunted, and tensed up, and grunted some more with a slight convulsion. At first I thought she was just being silly and trying to squeeze out a drop of pee, but the grunting and grimacing kept on for about 20-30 seconds and I suddenly felt slightly embarrassed — maybe she needed some privacy.

What could I do or say?  “Go Maia! Push! Push!” Or, maybe adapt the Lamaze breathing techniques for toddlers? “Take a big deep breath, now hold it and push for 5, 4, 3 keep pushing, 2, 1 … and relax.”  Uhhh, yeah….

So, I sat quietly and made no fuss. She finally relaxed and declared, “all done potty!”, and behold, there was a ripe brown trout in the pond. The paper work proved much more challenging than normal without 1) wet wipes and 2) a changing table, but, we managed.

As we stepped away from the toilet, the auto-flush kicked in and Maia looked over her shoulder and said, “bye bye poopy!”

All in a day’s parenting…