this toilet training bizniz is not thrilling me. today sela did a poo at playgroup and her poor instructor georgi had to clean it up. it was so appalling that sela needed new shoes, pants, shirt and knickers. the only things i had thrown in her backpack were hand sanitiser (which i am sure georgi did appreciate, right??) and a fresh set of knickers. so my child comes home, and she is so cowed in the knowledge that her bowels had behaved badly, that she didn’t even remember to complain that she and her sister weren’t dressed alike.

when i saw that sela was wearing an entirely different outfit than the one she had left the flat in, several thoughts flashed through my mind:

1) maybe she got wet. yes, that’s it….wet.

2) maybe i forgot that she owns that shirt and i forgot that i dressed her in that outfit. happens to the best of us. it has been a v. busy week.

3) dread….(as simultaneously and possibly ironically, my bowels turned to water).

i didn’t need to ask, what happened of course, jasper and carys came running up to me.

"sela did a poo at ppa!"

and stupidly, naively and hopefully i inquired, "in the toilet?"

and they screamed happily, "no, in her knickers!"

and then, just a few minutes later, as i was despairing quietly, carys came running up to me…

"mummy, i did a poopers!"

"oh that’s just great." i said in a flat voice, and scanned the room looking for the evidence

"in the toilet!" she joyously declared.

and so she had.