Oh, hello. Pardon me as I prepare my morning English tea. Cool Mum was thoughtful enough to purchase Bigelow English Breakfast tea from the market yesterday to help soothe my sore throat. Ah…
We are happy to introduce our second guest poster, Brody Harper of …in case you were wondering! As far as I know, Brody wears the hats of husband, father, road manager, photographer, musician, and blog extraordinaire. Please clap your hands and keep scrollin’ for Brody!
(photo: JHill)
When I graduated high school I hadn’t even thought about having kids. I had no idea where I would live, what I would be doing for a living, and no idea that one day in the near future I would be holding someone else’s feces. And more concerning than that, how it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to me.
Tonight, literally as I was thinking of something to write for this guest post I was supposed to be watching my three year-old in the bath, but was sucked in to achieving Jedi Status on the Lego Star Wars game with my five year-old. After about ten minutes of silence from the bathroom, and my wife asking if Aiden was okay in the bath, I ran into the bathroom to check on him.
I was hit at the door by an awful smell, and the realization that there had been some pooping going on in the bathroom. I asked my three year-old, who was still sitting in the tub, if he pooped.
“Yeah.” He said looking up at me.
“You pooped in the tub?!”
“No”
“Where did you poop?”
He slowly lifted his hand out of the water and pointed to the side of the tub where he had neatly piled up his “project” and continued to play with the small plastic boats floating around him.
Here’s the troubling part to me. Without much thought, I grabbed a paper towel, cleaned the side of the tub, pulled the plug in the bathtub and was washing up my three year-old. I was just about finished when I realized that it wasn’t freaking me out. I wasn’t gagging, or thinking about scrubbing my hands with soap until they bled. I realized, I am a parent. A parent of three boys. Three boys that are going to poop. Sometimes poop where they shouldn’t.
Never could I have imagined that I would be in the place where I am now. I never could have imagined that one day I would love something more than I loved myself. More than my comfort. More than my weak stomach. These little humans rely on me stepping up and being their dad. A dad that doesn’t get grossed out about things they do. A dad that’s stronger than anyone they know. And the dad that will clean up a pile of poop on the side of a tub if they need him to.
I have no idea if I am a cool parent or a crappy one, but I know that every day I am learning something new. Something new about myself. Something new about the grace of God. And something new about how to love, even if that means you might get grossed out at times.
-brody
Great Post! I have yet to have the poop in the tub test yet – but I do have 2 kids – 4 & 2 (gils – so perhaps they are more dignified)
But I too am amazed at the stuff that doesn’t gross me out – Like:
-Cleaning up Throw Up (or being Thrown up on)
-Wiping someone else’s bottom
-The mixtures of food flavors that kids seem to enjoy (Chicken Nuggets and Chocolate pudding anyone?)
Wow, this is a great post. I came over because you mentioned Bigelow Tea but found so much more…you must be a great dad…your boys are lucky!
Valorie for Bigelow Tea
justmatt, your girls have never pooped in the tub? WOW! They must be real dignified!
My girl is almost 14 and my boy is 11 and thankfully tub floaters are well in the past. Now on to much more gross things! Like pubescent body odor! I keep deodorant in the glove box of the car for my son. He has one in his room and the bathroom. He needs help =o
Fun, fun post!
I am sure the poop shall come Tam – it can only be a matter of time right? I think we are past it with the 4 yr old… but the 2 yr old would prob. do it for fun – as she does like to announce to the household that she has ‘gas’… Real Nice.
Thanks for the great post, Brody!
I don’t know what justmatt is talking about – we had SEVERAL tub incidents when the older one was potty training. He’s experiencing that amnesia God blesses us with that makes you want another one…
matt – We’ve had poop in the tub, but since it was early on, it was more runny than solid (hey, we’re talking about poop and we’re all adults here).
Valorie – thanks for stopping by! Thanks for the good tea, too. It’s helping!
tam – oh yeah, the boy is gonna have BO someday. man…
amy – amnesia or PTSD (post turd stress disorder) oh did i just go there? it must the fever.
post turd stress disorder? i didn’t know about this. this changes my entire world… i thought turd was spelled like “terd”. geez. one of those moments of enlightenment.
I’m pretty sure it’s “turd.”
I can’t let this go without sharing what was shared with me. I’ll try to be brief. If salvation is being born again, then discipleship is like helping raise a “newborn-again.” If we love God and get involved in helping others mature in Christ, then parenting lessons can take on a whole new meaning. When we disciple others in the Lord, we can expect that they will make messes. Furthermore, we should expect to clean them up…and not be “disgusted” by it. Wouldn’t it be great if the “family of God” acted like it!