TMI

For some, this would be considered an over-share. If you are an under-sharer then probably you don't want to read this. If you are or ever have been the parent of an infant or toddler then you probably have a similar story you could share! I'm posting this mostly for my own sake so that I can get to the point of laughing sooner than I might otherwise. Enjoy!

I may have written on an earlier post that naps are not really happening in our house any longer. They should be happening, especially for Hannah. But Joshua is transitioning out of them and I'm holding onto them as tightly as I possibly can. This has presented a few problems in recent weeks. You can see the post "Unexpected Motivation" for another set of circumstances that arose from this difference in opinion over naps.

Well, since above mentioned post, we have "graduated" Joshua into a play yard. He was sleeping on his own bed up until the point of piling every article of clothing in the bedroom into Hannah's bed. Now he is confined to the play yard and generally really likes it. I think he finds comfort in the well defined boundaries. And we know that he is safe and so is Hannah (she won't be smothered by 10's and 20's of pounds of clothing if Joshua can't get to it). But other issues arise as I found out this afternoon.

Joshua and Hannah were put down for their naps just after lunch. We went through the usual nap/bed time routine: lunch/dinner, clean-up, potty, new diapers, milk, reading, and sleep...hopefully. It's not at all difficult to hear pretty much everything that goes on at "nap time" since we live in a one bedroom apartment. They obviously weren't asleep after a length of time, but I thought, "How much could they really get into? They're enclosed in their 'special beds'."

So, I gave them a little more time to fall asleep. This was partially successful. Hannah fell asleep but soon after a series of sirens caused her to wake up. And then I had to give in: the kids weren't going to take naps today. I went into the bedroom and found...

Joshua's dirty diaper (VERY dirty diaper) outside of the play yard, turned upside down onto the bedding from his regular bed, and the diaper contents smeared all over his play yard. Aaaggghhh!!! Praise the Lord, I remained calm although I did hold back a few tears (it felt like a stressful day before this lovely sight).

"Joshua, why did you take off your diaper?" I asked.

"I clean up poo poo," he answered.

"Of course," I thought to myself. "Joshua, thank you for thinking of cleaning up your poo poo," I responded. "But from now on, only Daddy and Mommy can have that job, okay?"

It was quite a mess to clean up, and I was blaming myself thinking that I had left Joshua in "nap time" for too long. But this judgment proved to be wrong as I scrubbed away at a very dried up mess...obviously it happened early on in the napping endeavor.

As I cleaned, I was very close to crying. I don't know why but that seemed to be a natural response to a bed full of poo. And i kind of wanted to scream or yell or let out some type of outburst. But there was a pair of little eyes watching every move I made: Hannah was still in her play yard. Her full attention was on me the entire time I was cleaning. I'm glad that it was, too. Hannah may only be one year old, she may not talk yet except to say "bubble" and "pop" and some people may think that she can't remember anything that happened more than 3 seconds ago. But, I know that she is learning a ton right now and most of it is from the example that she sees in me, Claude, and Joshua. So, a good example I had to be and praise the Lord He enabled me to clean up with as much joy as can be found in a mess like that, but with a calmness that I know can only be from the Holy Spirit.

So, praise the Lord for the mess! But I'm sure you're glad that I didn't take any photos to commemorate the eventful afternoon. :)