TuscMoms.com

This little tid bit sent to me by Pampers almost made me choke on my coffee this morning. Finger painting with his poo? And - GULP - tasting it? Please tell me it isn't so, you veteran moms.

Here's what it said:

At this age, many toddlers are fascinated by the contents of their diapers, exploring the feel, smell, and even the taste of what they find inside. (Some budding Picassos even finger paint.) Limit your child's access to his diaper by dressing him in overalls, coveralls, or a one-piece sleeper with a zipper lock. That, combined with time and your own subtle negative reaction, should nip the behavior in the bud.

Never heard of this type behavior... and I've been around a lot of babies in my years.

My brother and sister are twins, and my mother has always claimed they had a poop fight once as tots. She imagines a lot, though ... and neither my kids or my nephews ever did anything like that.

Yep, it happens. My son has only done it once. I've learned now to never let him sleep in just a diaper. He never ate it(I hope!), but he put his hand in his diaper and painted a little. I miss onesies!

I've actually heard a few stories from family members whose toddlers did stuff like that.

My step-brother once got his diaper off and drove his matchbox car through the "mud" and then up the wall and all over the window sill.

My aunt took hers off in her crib and painted up and down the spindals of the crib with the contents. It was one of those antique style cribs and the poo was in all the little indentions in the spindals.

Well, then. Maybe Ma was telling the truth!

I've known a fair amount of kids that have done this. It's a facination with "something" their own bodies have made. They want to fully discover it and don't really know that it's as disgusting as we think it is. Kids have ownership of their poo and are pretty proud of it. Many kids potty training will take longer to give up the pooping in the diaper phase. They take to peeing in the potty quickly, but the poo lingers on for a while until finally it clicks and they are ready to say goodbye to their creations. As I always say . . . there is art in everything!! Hee hee