It's poop-tastic

Potty trained toddlers can use multiple pairs of underwear in a day.  It makes sense.  Sometimes the child gets to preoccupied and forgets to use the bathroom and has an accident.

Madeline doesn't have accidents.  But she still goes through multiple pairs of underwear.

Why?

Well I will tell you.

She is fascinated with pooping on the toilet.  I have no earthly idea how she wills herself to poop so much now, but she does.  Upwards of five times a day.  Morning, noon and night.  All day long.  But it's during her "nap time" that she unleashes her bowels. I'm not sure why I am so surprised when she goes again and again, but I walk away thinking, "surely she doesn't have anything left now."  And, well, the consistency gets grosser and grosser. 

So why does she need new underwear all the time?  Because she takes herself and then pulls up her underwear without letting me know she has gone.  Once upon a time, she would try to clean it up.  Man, that was never pretty.  We talked about how she should not pick it up nor should she try to wipe or clean up the mess.  She understands this now, however, sometimes she takes initiative.  So, her nap time has turned into bowel movement time.  Seriously.  We're now working on "don't sit down on your bed afterwards!"

And then there are the times when I just find her poop in the toilet.  Random toilets (we have three big and three little toilets - don't ask me how we procured so many).  Normally she likes to announce that she has gone - she will come running to me with her undies around her ankles and proudly tell me she pooped. But sometimes it isn't newsworthy, I guess, and I find it unexpectedly during the day.

And then there are the times when she comes running to me with her undies around her ankles and she's carrying the little toilet. I don't particularly like those times.  Thankfully, we've had no accidental spills.  Well, she did pour her urine into "little containers, mama!" one time when I apparently didn't empty her little toilet fast enough.  Let's suffice it to say the carpet needed new undies during the big-to-little container transaction.

So, while Madeline was a complete breeze to potty train, she still has some things to learn when it comes to her waste...and until she learns, we'll be changing undies multiple times a day :-)