Ruby's New Trick

If you are easily grossed out or talk of bodily functions offends you, stop reading now. For the rest of you who want a good laugh, keep reading.

Ruby has a new habit. It is not a good habit. Unfortunately I have not found a self help program for her as of yet. I have tried several things to discourage this habit but so far I'm not having any luck. None of my other children have done this on this scale. Charlotte did do this - surprise, surprise, but not on this scale and with this persistence.

Are you wondering what I'm talking about yet?

For some reason if Ruby poops in her diaper she immediately sticks her hand in her diaper and messes in her poop. If I'm lucky I catch her the first time she pulls her hand out of her diaper and get her cleaned up. Even though this is gross it is manageable and not too messy. Unfortunately if she poops at nap time I don't know about it right away and well she proceeds to smear poop anywhere and everywhere. Here again if it happens at the end of a nap time where they have actually slept it is still not that bad.

OK sidebar: Can you tell she has broken me in if I am saying "it is still not bad" to poop not in a diaper and smeared at a minimum on my daughters hand? I never, ever thought I could refer to such an occurrence as "not that bad!"

However, if she doesn't take a nap during nap time and poops. Well it is another story completely and well poop gets EVERYWHERE! Today was one of those days. Not the first one but definitely the worst!

I was coming home from work when Michael called to ask if we had any Clorox Anywhere. I misunderstood him and thought he was just asking if we had bleach. I told him where the bleach was and asked why he needed it. It is not like Michael to be calling with such requests and I was a little concerned with what he might ruin with bleach. Once we got the miscommunication taken care of and I understood that he didn't mean "clorox, anywhere" but "Clorox Anywhere" - the spray that you can use anywhere, thus the name, he told me why he needed it.

Yep, the dreaded Ruby Pooped at Naptime AGAIN saga. This time though she had smeared poop on the carpet, the chairs, the beds, several toys, the walls, the door, the blinds, her sisters legs, EVERYWHERE! Oh my! And Michael had the pleasure of being the one to discover Ruby and her mess!

It took us about 3 hours to clean up the mess and part of that time we were both working on it.
Both girls had to be bathed. Every book and toy had to be disinfected. Both beds had to be stripped and washed. Blinds had to be cleaned. Carpets had to be cleaned. You get the idea.

The only good thing about Ruby and her poop fascination is that I am really appreciating my new washer and dryer, and almost new dishwasher, as well as the carpet cleaner we've had for a few years now. Luckily the washer and dishwasher have the ability to sanitize. The washer can even sanitize things in cold water which comes in handy when you need to wash chair covers, Elmo, and Ruby's new baby she got for her birthday. Yes I put the doll in the washer! It was acutally somewhat satisfying to see her spinning around at completely dizzying speeds. And part of me hoped she would get ruined and we would have to throw her away so Ruby would understand that things that get poop on them get messed up. So that maybe she would stop this!!!!!

For those of you that are thinking I need to dress her so that she can't get to her diaper, I have tried. My daughter is aspiring to grow up to be a cross between Hudini and Evil Kineviel! She can get poop out of her diaper regardless of what she has on. She is persistent!

For those of you that are thinking we should potty train, we are working on it but slowly. Only thing is she refuses to poop in the potty! If it is a day when we wear big girl pants, she will wait until she is in a diaper for nap or bed time to poop and then, well you can start reading back at the beginning. If I notice that she is getting ready to poop - you know, see the "face" and ask her if she needs to poop, she tells me "no!" So we continue to work on it.

You know, I just wonder what Eliza Claire is thinking when Ruby does this. She is quiet a talker and I never hear her on the monitor saying "No, no Ruby!" or "Uh, oh Ruby pooped!" She apparently doesn't mind her sister seamring everything in their room. I don't get it.

Jenn - hoping not to clean up poop again for at least a couple of days.