Task Accomplished - The Wipe

Can you hear that? That beautiful wonderful sound? It’s the glorifying sound of heavenly angels singing and rejoicing because Younger Boy has learned to wipe!

Oh yes, I’ve witnessed this miracle all this week.

YB: I need a wipe!
Me: *walks over to open bathroom door* OK, then get some toilet paper.
YB: *Hops off toilet. Grabs about three squares of toilet paper, and lays strip of squares on sink top so that he can fold them into one thick square. Wipes*
Me: Good job! Do it one more time just to make sure you got it all.
YB: *Repeats above process* Crys, I wiped my butt!
Me: Yes you did! Good job!
YB: I can go to preschool!

So yes, Younger Boy has learned to wipe and is indeed about ready to go to preschool. Although he’ll have to wait for the fall because I’d like to get him a little more independent on wiping on his own first. And there’s this other thing I’ve mentioned to my dear fiancé that he should help with.

The thought occurred to me the other day when I was brushing my teeth. Younger Boy came in to use the bathroom and I noticed that as he’s finishing up he kind of finishes that stream of urine into his underwear. Not exactly full stream here though, more like the after drops of that stream.

Now don’t ask me how I came across this bit of knowledge … it’s possibly it came up during a conversation about how convenient it would be to have a detachable penis I could keep in my purse so that I could whip it out in an outdoor emergency situation. But the thought that came to my mind was, “What about the shake? Isn’t he supposed to shake it?”

Tangent: Yes, I have on multiple occasions participated in the discussion of peeing outside in the woods. Mainly my point is that it’s irritating that guys can go to a tree and whip it out, go, shake it and tuck it back in and you’re done.. However, we females need to find a location, find some balance, pop a squat, go, either shake like crazy or hope like hell you have some tissue or toilet paper tucked somewhere, and then you’re done. Not so much fun when you’re camping and its 4am and you really have to go, or when you’re in the middle of an orchard at a party and you’re bladder is full from too much beer.

Back on topic, I brought this up to my fiancé in the statement of “Isn’t he supposed to shake it when he’s done.” My fiancé looked at me like I was speaking crazy gibberish but then after he observed what Younger Boy was doing I guess my crazy gibberish made sense.

It was kind of funny. FH told Younger Boy to shake it and, because he wasn’t exactly shown what to shake, and because he’s three he interpreted it as he ought to shake his whole bottom half. Now, whether this was productive or not I don’t know because I had to leave the company of FH and Younger Boy to go giggle in the kitchen. So FH’s next assignment (and Older Boy’s) is to show Younger Boy how to shake it when you’re done.

So we have accomplished much:
Recognizing that he has to pee/poop.
Acting upon that realization.
Going correctly on the toilet (standing to pee or sitting to poop)
Wiping up after pooping

Now what we have to work on:
Wiping independently
Remembering to wash hands with soap afterward
The Shake

And I think that one of the older boys (My assumption is Middle Boy) needs to learn to master the shake as well. Because I know that all that wiping I end up having to do around the toilet isn’t all from Nasty Cat and Younger Boy.