Zany Mum's new house

Zany Mum has moved to a new address . She's now the resident blogger at MumCentre Malaysia. You can still send your questions to Zany Mum via the MumCentre forum or email her at tehlydia@yahoo.com. She will post the reply at her MumCentre blog.

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Of poop and potties

Dear Zany Mum

Having 4 kids, you must be an expert on children. My question is how should I potty train my 20 month old? My Mom potty trained my first 2 kids. And now, I am on my own on this last baby, unless of course, I wait until my Mom visits me in August. I have let her walked around bare bottom for a week before and she just pee’ed on the floor. Luckily, we have wood floors around the places that she has accidents. This morning while I was busy blogging, she pooped on our new sectional. Actually, she pooped on her diapers and she removed the diaper herself. Sometimes, I see her hiding under the table trying to poop in her diapers. If I insist, she will relunctantly poop in her potty. I have since given up on potty training her because I don’t think she is ready. Thanks in advance.

Lee-Ping Chong
http://hipfood.wordpress.com

xxxx

Hi Lee-Ping

You let your baby walk around bare-bottom? This is dangerous. How do you know there aren’t paedophiles lurking around outside the house? Tsk, tsk, this must stop immediately, dear. Don’t give perverts the opportunity for cheap thrills. You may think your neighbourhood is safe but you never know. Still water runs deep. The gardener cutting the grass outside, the milkman delivering milk, the newspaper vendor come to collect his dues… these are all potential no-gooders. And if you think I’m paranoid, you’re right.

An apple a day
Keeps the doctor away
Some paranoia a day
Keeps kids out of harm’s way

And if you insist on letting her go butt naked, you’ll have to clean up the leaks. If she was wearing a nappy, a small leak would have been entirely absorbed. If it was major, just remove the nappy and double it as a rag for the clean up. A busy mum has to do all she can to cut corners.

Seeing as to how your daughter removes her diaper after pooping, I think she’s on her way to graduating toilet-training school soon. Most toddlers wallow around in their own poop, so be happy that she’s precocious enough to know poop doesn’t belong in diapers.

You are wise to recognize that your girl isn’t ready yet. She’s only 20 months old. There’s plenty of time yet. Be patient. Meanwhile, stock up on your disposable diapers – never mind what the environmentalists say about them - they keep a mother sane, floor cleaner and Dettol if she picks up food from the floor. One more thing, you may want to buy half a dozen potties and place them all over the house. That way, when the urge hits, there’s always a potty near at hand and you don’t have to scramble to the toilet for it. Toddlers aren’t good at controlling their bladders.

By the way, don’t you wish you have dear old mum with you all the time? You could always count on her to do the dirty work, eh?

Book Prizes

Closing Date extended to 31 May 2007!

Zany Mum is offering three copies of Honk! If You’re Malaysian or Life’s Like That - Scenes from Malaysian Life for the most interesting questions sent to her.

Rules :

1. Anyone can participate but prizes will only be mailed to a Malaysian address (sorry, overseas postage is expensive).

2. There’s no limit to the number of questions but they must be emailed to tehlydia@yahoo.com with the subject header Zany Mum.

3. Only one prize per winner.

4. Closing date for this contest : April 30, 2007.

Sticky baby

Dear Zany Mum

I just came back from a dinner with a friend. She needed to drive so she passed her baby to us to handle for a while. This baby is so "sticky" that she wanted to go back to her mummy even she is driving. Baby is 2 yrs old. Ended up, we got a vomitting baby and car smells like "you know what". Have you encountered this before and how do you handle this situation? Until what age will the baby react like that? How to avoid this situation, if possible? ... Kimmy

Dear Kimmy

When I saw 'sticky baby', I thought you had a baby who got all sticky with sweets and ice-cream. I see that you've used the Hokkien equivalent of 'liam.' In parent-speak, this stickiness is actually separation anxiety. I don't have a degree in child education and la-di-da but my advice is gleaned from the University of Hard Knocks.

I'm glad I've never encountered this problem with my kiddoes. They're only sticky in one sense - they're stuck to their car-seats. I always strapped them down right from birth to about three or four years of age, or until they outgrow their car-seat whichever comes first.

I can just imagine the torture you had to go through, holding a struggling baby who's stretching out her arms to her mummy who has to free one hand from the wheel periodically to pat the child and say, "There, there, it's okay. Just for a while only. We'd be home soon, okay. One more minute only." And if the baby could talk, she'd bawl, "Why does your one minute seem like 30 minutes?"

Another thing, Kimmy, you gotta learn more parent-speak. Parents call faeces poo-poo, urine shi-shi and bath pong-pong but there's no equivalent for vomit. You don't call it "you know what." Imagine if every unsavoury stuff is called "you know what", you'd make as much sense as Mork in Mork and Mindy. Yer-no-wa, yer-no-wa sounds like nano-nano, don't you think. Rule of thumb, if you're unsure of the euphemisms, call a spade a spade. Thus, vomit is vomit. Kapish?

There is no magical age where a child will stop being sticky. It all depends on his upbringing and his own brand of personality. An extrovert baby will never be sticky, an introvert may be sticky all his life.

Take my advice, Kimmy. If you don't want any more smelly accidents in the car, invest in a good car-seat. Even if you're not a parent, but if you go out often with mummy-and-daddy friends, buy one. You won't regret it.

But Zany Mum,

What can be done to a child who is not used to baby car seat? I'm sure they will just cry and cry and cry if he/she being strapped to the seat. This baby is like that. There was once she cried from Perak to Penang ... Kimmy

Kimmy, you have my sympathies. The first few times of training a child in a new habit is always hard. You'd just have to bear with it. I suggest you get earplugs for a long journey.