Where did a year go?

Let's see:
-watching baby grow from smiling blob to walking and babbling toddler
-another stint at grad school for 3 weeks in May
-a move in June to Pincher Creek
-return to work in a new job as event planner in southern Alberta
-get baby into day care while hubby away for work for a couple of months
-two graduate courses at the same time as hubby away
-family Christmas in Toronto
and now on holiday again and catching up.

The Bathroom Post

I used to work with visitor facilities and at almost every turn, we found ourselves talking about bathrooms - cleanliness, messes, how to manage the waste etc. You might have thought that I would leave that behind. But no. As a parent and of course, a dog owner, I am finding that I think about poop more than ever. Whether baby and dog poop. Consistency, color and form.

Recent events have meant that this is more true than ever. Catriona is now onto solids, introducing a whole new level of poop thought into our day. Before solids, it was easy to know if she had pooped - you could hear it, either her crying or the relief in her tummy. She had a couple of good ones - sprayed me before I could get her in the bath when she was newborn, a blowout after a car trip all over my white shirt and new shorts, an accident on grandma's white rug, and a humongous blowout on the plane back from Toronto just before landing.

However, as I said she is now onto solids. The only hint you have is an odor, and occasionally a bit of a fuss. And sometimes one or two days before her tummy gets moving. Lately, it's been inevitable that I smell a dirty diaper just as I am putting on the snowsuit to go outside or for an appointment. And late. I usually try to keep diaper changes happy and light by talking, letting her hold a toy, or her favorite, kissing her belly. But when we're in a rush I focus on getting out and then I forget the entertainment and she starts squirming all over the place. Making it even harder.

A recent highlight was what my sister calls the "aquadump" - in the middle of the tub, I hear and smell toots and then all of a sudden there are floaties in the water. She got two tubs that night!

The icing on the cake to all this poop talk is that the dog has his issues too. Recently I went for a visit to a friend's house and it was too cold to bring the dog in the car or leave him outside. So I shut all the bathroom doors as he sometimes gets into garbage. I come home to find that one of the doors was opened and bits of diaper lying on the floor. This despite the fact that the entire pail of disposables in her room was untouched. A phone call the vet to make sure that it will pass through on its own. It took him nearly a week for it to come out. Poor little guy.

So we are now going to make sure she gets lots of fibre in her food, and doublecheck all the bathroom doors in the house if we have to go out without the dog.