They say it always happens when you turn your back for one second; “it” being a big disaster, a major injury, a traumatic moment. Friday night was a night to live in infamy in my mind. I did it…I turned my back on Melody for just a moment. The dogs were hungry and I was trying to scrounge some food for the poor little guys out of the bottom of our food box since we hadn’t gotten dog food and would not until the next day. I’m head down in the food box when I hear “aaahhhhh! Waaahhhhh!” and a scream to wake the dead…

Like many children, Melody is aware and observant of her surroundings. She enjoys telling us about what is going on around her, and in particular, with her body. “I hungy” “runnnnning” and “bye bye” are among her favorites, along with “dia-puh” “I do it”, “my turn” and “I burp.” However, her favorite is “poop.” She likes to say poop. She announces when she will poop and when she has pooped. She announces “poop” just for the fun of it because when I check her diaper, it’s clean. I sometimes think Dad has taught her this just to push my buttons.

Melody has learned many behaviors that are cute and funny, and some that are, shall we say…undesirable. One she learned from another girl at daycare is to ram her hand down her pants and into her diaper. So far, we had escaped the inevitable surprise awaiting her after one of her famous “poop” announcements. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

I turned as fast as I could from the dog food box and found Melody, screaming, a look of horror on her sweet little face and her hands and top smeared with her favorite word.

At least she was horrified and not delighted. Early bath and late dinner that night, and onsies ever since.