The Poop Chronicles

Shortly after my NY trip I developed diarrhea. Everyone in the family had it. Anya first for a day or so; Maya one day; Jay and I in synchonicity for a week when he stopped and I continue now to three weeks. The doctor claims it is viral and must run its course. In the midst of all this pooping Anya decides not to wear diapers one afternoon which raises all our consciousness of poop to a here-to-fore unattained heights.

Fortunately the babysitter arrived shortly after Anya's decision. She claims to have potty trained hundreds of kids; she says she runs a boot camp potty training weekend which does the trick. She sets up the potty(we now have potties in the two upper level bathrooms), and sets her phone to call every 15 minutes. She tells Anya its for her to remind her to use the potty. Anya is totally into it, especially as Amy has a stack of books by the potty and reads to her while she waits for action. This is of course starting a life long habit of reading on the pot.

So begins an afternoon of phone calls and potty sits and reading books with no success. The next day it begins again. Amazingly, when I come up to breakfast she announces that she pooped the potty. We are all terribly congratulatory. Champagne! Confetti! A Band! She is soooo happy. As the day wears on we begin to see that Anya never pees--she goes for hours long hours without peeing. The babysitter comes and we have a second success with pooping, but no pee. By the next day she is getting bored with the 15 minute intervals(so are we). Maya insists she sit on the pot and Anya cries and wails in protest. Maya says Anya you can cry and be unhappy or I can sit with you and read books. Which do you want? I want to cry and be unhappy, she says crying to prove her point and so she is left alone with her sorrow. Friday there is a breakthrough. She pees. She is so proud of herself. But then she refuses to sit on the pot when we remind her which makes us very nervous. But somehow we keep reminding her and she keeps insisting she doesn't have to and so we are all startled and set in motion when she yells "potty" and runs to the bathroom. She manages to do this in time for all action all day. We are stunned.

Today she came into the room without her pants on and said, "I peed" I go to check and find her emptying her potty in the toilet! On the second run to the bathroom, I sit with her. " HHMmm she says. I wonder what will come out?" We speculate and then discover it's pee. She insists on emptying the pot and wiping herself.

"Can it really be this simple?" we ask ourselves and pray it turns out to be!