Word of the Day

What single word means all of these things...

1. A superstructure at the stern of a vessel.
2. To cause to become out of breath or fatigued.
3. A candid or pertinent factual report.
4. Excrement.

And the answer is...POOP! As in poop deck, pooped out, the poop, or poop in the potty. Poop seems to be the theme of my life right now. Either I am just plain pooped or Suzanne has pooped (usually somewhere obnoxious since she knows how to take off her clothes). Or I'm thinking longingly of having fruity umbrella drinks of the poop deck of a cruise ship or actually having time to read the entire newspaper to get the scoop and the poop. See, it's a theme and you all know how I love a theme...

Today we are talking about No. 4, which is often called No. 2! We have been working vigorously on potty training this week. Suzanne actually managed to tinkle in the potty chair on Wednesday, but the rest of the time she just sits on it and giggles. I think we had a breakthrough this morning, though. Unless I have her in non-removable clothes (I practically have to strap them on with duct tape), she will take off everything after she poops and leave the diaper on the floor. The poop nuggets, as Kirk calls them, tend to roll all over the place.

Today she did what she always does, except that this time she took off her diaper next to the toilet! I really think she is getting the idea about what we do in the bathroom. Gosh, I hope so because it was much easier to clean up and just flush it away.

Ahhhh, I can hear you thinking, "well if this happens every day, why doesn't she just watch her a little closer and catch her before she gets naked?" Two reasons actually. First, she buzzes (please refer to the previous blog entry). Second, kids with Downs have low muscle tone and may not be, uh, regular. While most of us have our "special moment" around the same time every day, Suzanne does not. I would have to keep her in my sights every waking moment, which is just not possible. I used to be able to just listen for her because she made the Pooping Noise, but now she has become the stealth pooper.

In essence, Suzanne is constantly searching for new ways to do things when I'm not looking. She may have Down Syndrome, but she's smarter than me.