Shi-shi, umko, and other bodily functions

Don’t ask me why, but my Ojichan always referred to what Ane now calls “peep” and “poo-poo” as “shi-shi” and “umko”. I know that the Captain and Little Cousin’s Mommy will get a huge laugh out of remembering this. I have never been able to verify that they are proper Japanese terms or merely slang that wouldn’t show up in a dictionary, but they are indelible words from my childhood.

We had a lot of it around here yesterday, both good and bad. Do not read this after eating, or while eating, or if you have a sensitive stomach or an active imagination. You’ve been warned.

Tad is sick. I’m not sure where he picked this up – Ane doesn’t have it… yet – but his nose is runny and he has a bit of a cough. I’m not sure if this will progress into a full-blown cold yet, but I’m not taking any chances. Anyway, with the coughing comes a tendency to gag when eating. Add dinner to that… the Webmaster popped a small piece of dinner into his mouth last night that he just couldn’t take, and hack hack hurl… dinner comes back up. Poor kid. We got him cleaned up, but he didn’t have much of an appetite after that. He does have a tendency to gag and spit up during colds, so I am keeping an eye on him. He seems perfectly fine this morning.

Library storytime started back up this week, and the Webmaster took Ane to it right after dinner. My mother was over at our house “hanging out” while Auntie was at softball practice not too far away. So I stayed home to tend to Tad and keep my mom company. After his barfing incident, his Grandma offered to watch him play in the bathtub while I tried to finish my dinner (too busy cleaning up Tad and getting Ane and the Webmaster out the door to eat). Tad was playing happily and I was bringing my mother a cup of tea, when… floater alert! Umko in bathtub!

Other than the gross factor, it was a fairly simple thing to clean up. We chased down the big pieces and drained the tub to clean the rest of it out. Some hot water and a few distinfectant wipes later, and we were able to refill the tub and put Tad back in (I even washed off his bath toys for him). After he was washed and dried and in jammies, he snuggled up to his Grandma until she left to pick up Auntie, then he sat with me, all splayed out in my lap with me stroking his head. He had a good night of sleep and woke up quite chipper this morning.

Ane had her bath after coming back from the library, and got to watch a chunk of American Idol while I trimmed her fingernails and toenails and combed out her hair. She went to bed pretty quickly after that, and was asleep not long after. The Webmaster was at the computer and I was still up a few hours later, catching up on some recorded shows on the DVR, when I heard a door open and little feet padding down the hallway. I paused the show I was watching to listen. I heard the bathroom light switch turn on and the bathroom door closed. I jumped up, excited. “Ane is in the bathroom!” I hissed to the Webmaster.

I poked my head into the bathroom. Ane was sitting on the potty, bleary-eyed but fully cognizant of what she was doing. “Hi, Mommy. I needed to go peep.”

I helped her wipe up and wash her hands, all the while singing her praises. This was a HUGE moment. Recently, Ane has been waking up a few hours after falling asleep every night and calling for either the Webmaster or myself to come and take her to the potty. While this does mean that she is dry through the night and she’s obeying her bodily impulses, we have told her repeatedly that she doesn’t need our help to go potty, and it is okay to get out of bed by herself at night if she needs to use the potty. It seems she finally took us up on that last night.

I am so proud of her. We’ll see how she does tonight and see if this keeps up. But I am close to declaring her fully potty trained, morning and night. She’s been doing so well at night, I haven’t had to buy nighttime Pull-Ups in two months! It’s been fabulous. In the meantime… Tad? Are you interested in this potty thing?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 at 9:15 am and is filed under Children.
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