A blog about poo

Two days ago I was rinsing a smelly nappy and fantasizing about the day when Kaya would take himself to the toilet and I wouldn't have to deal with another nappy (until the next baby came along). I started wondering when the best time would be to start his toilet training. I'd already read a little bit about the "how to" but I wasn't so sure about the "when to". At 15 months of age, is now a good time to start? He's walking and very able to do a lot of things by himself. And the weather is warm enough now for him to be able to run around the place naked and not get a chilly bottom. I consulted some of my baby books and had a bit of a browse online. All sources agreed that it was important to wait until the child was "ready" before even thinking about starting training. What did "ready" mean? Well, it seems that the little one should be able to recognize the sensation of needing to go and be able to associate this sensation with the end-product left in his nappy. He should also feel some discomfort in being wet or "pooey" (we're not allowed to use words like dirty or smelly because apparently using words or expressions with negative connotations can cause your kid to not respond well to toilet training) and either try to remove the nappy himself, or communicate to his mummy that he's created another "masterpiece" so she'll remove his nappy for him.

"Bugger," I thought, Kaya either doesn't seem to realise or doesn't care when he's poo'ed or wee'ed in his nappy.  And I resigned myself to a few more months of hosing poo out of nappies....

But then yesterday, I noticed Kaya standing quietly in a corner and was just about to ask him if he'd done a poo, when he started pulling at his pants leg and saying over and over "ba-ba, ba-ba" (unfortunately ba-ba is Kaya's word for poo-poo.  Needless to say, Murat's not very impressed that Kaya chooses to use the same word for acknowledging both his poo and his father).

Yeah! So it seems Kaya's met all the criteria for being "ready" for toilet training. I just have to get my plan of action figured out and hopefully we'll have a toilet trained little man very soon. Wish me luck!