Family Poop Problems

Here are my two little girls, Teri and Cindy, on their way to elementary school and kindergarten. They look so sweet and happy, but before this was taken, it was probably an altogether different story. Cindy always had a special way to go poop. She would take a big basketball-sized ball into the bathroom with her and bounce it against the wall in front of her while she was sitting on the toilet – first with the left hand, and then with the right hand. Or maybe she used both hands like a basketball player making free throws, but I don’t think so. I think there was a floor bounce after it hit the wall. Whatever, it became very annoying when someone else needed to use the bathroom since we had only one. We would be outside the bathroom and have to listen to the ball banging and banging against the wall. This would go on for what seemed like hours.

Teri was older and wanted to get all fixed up before school, but Cindy was always in there, bouncing and bouncing. Cindy told me the other day she remembers Teri screaming, “Mom, make Cindy get out of the bathroom – she’s been in there for hours!” There didn’t seem to be anything to do about it at the time. Cindy never went poop away from home. She still doesn’t like to – maybe at my home she feels comfortable but usually not anyplace else. She would hold it for hours until it almost became impacted and would require much ball bouncing when she returned home. I’m somewhat the same way, especially on planes. That’s the absolute worst! But I don’t need to bounce a ball to get the job done. When Cindy was really young and finally we could hear the bouncing had stopped, we’d hear this little voice come wafting out of the bathroom, “Come wipe me.” We all breathed a sigh of relief and could get on with our lives until another day dawned. Not everyone likes to talk about poop, but I’m not one of them!