Get Their Pee Away from Me

JeanneSager — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

I'm one of those parents who extols the virtues of "eau de kid." So I was all excited to read Peter Hartlaub's ode to the odors of kids in the Poop this week.

Until I got to section two. Cheerios and pee.

Really Peter, you had to lay that one out there for the child-free by choice folks to throw back at us? Maybe it's the mark of a mom who was beaten down by potty training, but where I agree with everything else on Hartlaub's list, his assertion that "the faint scent of toddler pee can actually be kind of pleasant." just made me want to retch.

Yes, I know he was kidding (sort of), but let me lay out my own list of reasons the Cheerios and pee smell has apparently been WAY overrated:

1. My daughter insists on sleeping with at least five to six books in her bed every night so she can "read" herself to sleep. As a sign of her love of literature, I couldn't be happier. As a sign of what's to be thrown out at 2 a.m. in case of that (rare, but still) bedwetting incident . . . ick. Nothing says read me like Goodnight Moon with urine dripping off of it.

2. Although perfectly able to use the "big" potty, the lure of the small potty is big in my house. Like most potties for kids, it lacks a flushing function. It makes up for it with a lid . . . which is usually left open. The only other thing you need to know? We have a dog. Nuff said.

3. Accidents happen (and if you watched Elmo's Potty Time as much as we did, you are now singing the song), but wet undies can always be whisked away to sit in the middle of a pile of laundry that needs to be done . . . right in the center of the pile, where heat and urine meet. Yum.

4. Ever been peed on by a potty training toddler? I don't think I need to say anymore!

But Hartlaub has good news for all of us. They graduate to the suntan lotion/peanut butter/Play-Doh/bananas smell . . . and it smells gooood!

Image: Green Baby Guide

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