What is it about the potty?

Ahhhh, the potty. Also known in various circles as the toilet, the commode, the latrine, the lavatory, the privy, the porcelain god, the can, and more... That's a lot of names for something that's basically used to, y'know, collect and dispose of our bodily waste, don't you think? It's pretty intriguing, if you think about it. Are humans potty-obsessed? Watching my boys' growing fascination with all things having to do with the potty makes me wonder if it's some sort of instinctual thing that goes back to the days of the Cavepeople. It stands to reason that, back in the day, our earliest ancestors had to worry about whether their droppings would attract predators or spread disease, and so there was a lot of interest in you-know-what as well as where it needed to go. Maybe that interest just continued throughout history. I mean, think about it...As soon as we have babies, what do we start to focus on, endlessly talk about (much to the dismay of our childless friends), and "ooh" and "aah" over? Poop! You know I'm right, so don't roll your eyes. When the little ones are in diapers, it's all about what's going on in the diaper. Then, it's on to potty training, and the pee and poop obsession continues...The potty songs, the potty stories, the sticker charts, the cookies and other forms of bribery (as in "You can have a cookie if you go pee-pee in the potty, sweetie!"), or, somewhat embarrassingly, the potty dance. (Yes, I admit it. We did the potty dance in my house. It involved a lot of arm waving, clapping, and crazy foot movements. Not pretty.) Anyway, my just-turned-5-year-old has become completely enamored with the potty and everything having to do with it. He will cheerfully holler, "I'm going potty!" and then disappear for ages. Warning: This next part may just qualify as "Too Much Information". Inevitably, we find him sitting on the potty, completely naked, (for some reason, he likes to take off every stitch of clothing when he poops -- I'm thinking we should probably work on that before he starts kindergarten...), singing a song to himself, and occasionally looking down with fascination at whatever he has produced. We'll tell him he needs to finish up, and he leaps off the potty, very, very thoroughly utilizes the toilet paper, and then the "Ritual of Flushing" begins. It goes something like this: "Mom, Mom, c'mere and see this! Moooommmmmmmyyyyyyyy......OK, lookit this, Mom. Lookit! I did a HUMONGOUS poop. (giggle, giggle) OK, OK, I'm gonna flush. Keep watching. Keep watching. OK, it's gonna go down the vortex. LOOK AT THE VORTEX! Oh man, it's so cool. (more giggles) Are you watching, Mom? Mom? Cool, huh?" Flushing his poop seriously makes his day. Then, he washes his hands, puts his clothes back on, and practically skips out of the bathroom. At least once during the day, he'll suddenly gasp and say, "Remember that HUGE poop I flushed today? Cool!" We went to the Science Center in Seattle last week, and do you know what his favorite thing was? The lifesized animatronic dinosaurs? Nope. The touch tank with the live hermit crabs that would crawl on your hands? No way. The incredibly disgusting and fascinating giant bug display? Negative. How about the telescope that went way, way up out of the Science Center so you could look all around Seattle. Uh-uh. You know what it was. Oh, yes. The toilet that was cut in half, so that you could see the inner workings and what happens when you flush. He must have flushed that thing at least 20 times, and it was just as exciting for him every single time. And, let me tell you, it takes a while for a toilet to fill back up again, just so it can be flushed one more time. And one more time after that. And one more time after that. And one more time after that...SIGH. But, it made his day. In fact, when I tucked him into bed last night, the last thing he said as I was heading out the door was, "Pssst. Mommy. Remember that totally cool potty at the Science Center? That was too much fun, Mommy. I loved it!"

Man, I love my kids. Poop and all. And, maybe we'll end up with a plumber in the family. That wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Cheers!