Maybe it was something we both ate, but Miles and I both had some bathroom-related challenges this evening. What made Miles’s particularly challenging is that, five minutes after being asked if he needed to use the potty, Miles had an accident in his britches.
Once I had liberated him from the soiled clothes and plopped him down on the potty to finish, I rubbed his shoulder. “You have a tummy ache?” I asked, knowing that he at least felt a little bad about his accident.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I had a tummy ache today too.”
“You had a tummy ache?”
“I did.”
“And you poo-poo in your pants?” Miles asked sincerely.
“No I didn’t poop in my pants.”
“In your underwear?” he said, getting more specific.
“No, I didn’t poop in my underwear either. I went to the potty when I knew I had to poop.”
“Oh.”
I hope Miles didn’t feel too ashamed about his accident, but I do hope he learned that we all have the capacity for accidents — we just have to learn to avoid them.
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 