Cleaning Up His Own Mess

Last night while Jason was using the restroom, Marcie was sleeping, and I was away at school, we had an . . . uh . . . incident. Here is how Casey explained it to me this morning:

Me: Good morning, Casey. Did you sleep well?

Casey: Mm. Hmm. (a bunch of babbling that clearly he intends to be words but I cannot understand). Casey poo poo in his pants. Daddy got mad.

Me: You pooped in your pants and Daddy got mad at you?

Casey: Mm. Hm. No poo poo in pants. Poo poo in potty.

Me: That's right, Casey. Big boys poo poo in the potty. Why did you poo poo in your pants?

Casey: Daddy going potty. Casey go potty. Poo poo in pants.

Me: Daddy was using the bathroom, so you didn't know where to go?

Casey: Mm. Hmm.

Me: Casey, next time you have to go potty and someone is using your potty, you use Mommy and Daddy's potty, okay?

Casey: Ok.

Jason's telling was a little different. To understand the situation, you need to know that we live in a two-bathroom home. It's a one-story house, and the kids' bathroom is also the bathroom that sits in the hallway between the family room and the bedrooms. So it's the bathroom that gets used the most (for obvious reasons). It's not like we prohibit the kids from using our bathroom-- not at all. It's just not as convenient, so it's not common.

In any case, I won't go into all the details, but here are the basics. Jason noticed a grape-fruit sized, brown stain in Casey's bedroom. Thinking Casey had done a poor job of wiping, then sat on his floor to change into his pajamas, he pulled out the cleaning supplies and cleaned.

Then he went into the kitchen to throw away all the trash. Where he discovered more poop. On the floor. On the counter. Pieces in the sink. (I didn't think to ask where he found Casey's dirty clothes). Water drenching the countertop, and some water on the floor. From what he could put together, Casey had pooped in his pants, then realized he'd made a mess and tried to clean it up by himself. After he'd done the best he could, he went into his bedroom where he had, indeed, changed himself into his pajamas.

Jason managed to clean it all up (probably through a series of gagging fits) before I got home (yay for me!). Casey asked to take a shower, but this is tricky-- because he loves showers, and while we like a clean child, we certainly don't want to encourage pant-pooping just so he can get a shower out of the ordeal. Anyway, Jason cleaned up Casey, too.

I really do think it was an accident because Jason was in Casey's bathroom.

I love that the first words out of Casey's mouth were to tell me what he'd done "wrong." And I love that he tried to clean it up all by himself. So gross as it may be, I can still find the cuteness in it all. Of course, I'm not the one who had to clean it up!