I apologize for the off- putting title. But I’ll explain. Poop is a big part of motherhood. I remember when I first began to realize this… and it wasn’t even all about my baby’s poop. One morning, shortly after we had Will, Derek came in from outside. He had taken Will, all swaddled up, and our dog, Cortez, out to the field near our house for his morning constitutional. Derek came back in and delivered Will to me in bed, where I was grabbing a few extra minutes of sleep after having been up nursing all night. He announced that Will had pooped, the dog had pooped, and even he, himself, had pooped. He tucked Will in with me and was off to work. As he walked out, I thought, great, everyone got a nice leisurely poop this morning, except me. If I had only known how few private bathroom moments I would have during motherhood.
For various reasons, we waited to have a second child until Will was 3 ½. Once number two, Elias, came along, I was relieved that Will was completely potty-trained. I was happy to not be dealing with two creatures’ poop. What’s funny is that I seem to be continuing this trend. Last year, we were thinking about getting chickens (for the eggs), but I just couldn’t do it. Something was getting in the way of making the decision. Then, this spring, we discussed it again, and I was totally on board. In fact, I surprised myself at how I was able to just dive in. I started reading all about raising chicks. I’d call local feed stores and ask questions like, “Are your chickens sexed?” (Meaning bred in such a way to 98% guarantee that you are getting hens and not roosters.) And, “Do you carry non-medicated, organic feed?” And, “What do you think of the deep litter method?” This last question is about… poop! So, there we go, I am dealing with poop again, but…Elias is fully potty-trained, so I can handle it. And since now would be about the time one might decide to have a third child, I think I must be replacing that need with chickens. They poop, but man, they’re a lot less work than kids.
