The Power and Laughter of Bodily Functions!

We are now 2 weeks into the Potty Training process with Marin and she's doing very well. We still have about 1 accident a day in her Pull-up, and pooping is still a major challenge, but we are making very good progress. Marin is getting better at telling us when she needs to go, and she wakes up from her night sleep and naps dry everytime.

This is Daddy reading the book and Marin sucking the lollipop that she got for pooping on the toilet (Finally)!

These are the potty charts that Marin uses to track her progress. The top one was a sticker just for going on the potty, and resulted in the acquisition of some Polly Pockets. The bottom one is for tougher skills like pooping, no accidents from wake-up to nap or night sleep, and telling mom and dad when we need to go. The pictures are for rewards along the way.

Things we've learned while potty training Marin... 1. Our method makes us poor. 2. Our method rots Marin's teeth. 3. Sometimes we feel worse about accidents than she does. 4. We think an end might be in sight! Wish us luck. 5. With all the talk about bodily functions around our house...funny stories are bound to pop up...

Each night we have a bedtime routine that includes a show, books, and songs. One of the songs that we sing to Marin is the MILK cheer. For those of you who don't know... it goes like this.

Give me an M....(Marin yells "M!") Give me an I...(Marin yells "I!"...you get the picture) Give me an L....L! Give me a K....K! What's that spell?....MILK! Don't give me no Pop, no Pop! Don't give me no tea, no tea! Just give me that Milk... Moo Moo Moo Moo... Wisconsin Milk... Moo Moo Moo Moo.

During the Moo Moo Moo Moo part, we put up our thumbs like udder teats and Marin milks them. There are more verses, but I'll spare you.

Anyway, last night we finish the cheer and Marin decides she's going to be silly and starts calling out her own cheer and we play along....

Give me and F...(We yell "F!") Give me an A...(We yell "A!" and start to think about the pronunciation of the made up word she is spelling.) Give me an R...(We yell "R!" and think well, this should be easy to pronounce...but what if she picks...hmm) Give me a T...(We yell "T!" and begin cracking up....She's deadpan, so we're pretty sure that she had no idea what she had just spelled) What's that spell? (We yell "FART!" and the whole family laughs A LOT for about 5 minutes and answers a bunch of questions about how to spell it.)

So, Marin now knows how to spell "fart". She already spelled it again this morning.

Happy Farting, Pooping, and Tinkling!