Shotgun Finn Saves the World

It is done. He did it.

On these dark days leading up to the inauguration of a feral Cheeto as our next commander-in-chief, my little Finn reminded me to never lose hope. There is still so much good in the world.


Last night, Finley Michael Bairdsmith pooped in the potty...for the second day in a row.

Yes, he's five-years-old. Here's a quick recap:

January 4, 2015

It started out promising. Jodee and I had just moved in together the summer of 2014 and the boys had settled in quickly. Just after Finn's third birthday in October, he was waking up most mornings with a dry diaper. It seemed like, despite the big changes in his life, the new year might be a great time for a milestone, so we got him the setup and made a modest goal: Potty-Trained by Age Four.

We weren't aggressive with toilet training, of course. The signs of his readiness were there, so we gently encouraged.  There were a few accidental successes over the course of the year, but as the fourth birthday approached without much progress, we streamlined Finley's daily "to-do list", downloaded some potty-only apps, and employed the help of his encouraging brother.

October 13, 2015

His fourth birthday came and went. He had no trouble peeing, but pooping was out of the question. We decided to kick training up a notch. No more diapers, period.

January 7, 2016, after stealing a swim diaper and hiding

This led to me learning a new medical term: Encopresis. When your child ends up in the hospital after refusing to poo for the better part of a week, you've lost the battle. So for the past year (that's right, YEAR!) Finn has been having his regular movements, every afternoon, in a diaper. He was practically changing himself.

But then, just a couple of days ago, Liam made an unexpected request. He has every Pixar and Dreamworks film at his disposal but he wanted to watch his old potty training video "Potty Power" featuring the criminally underrated song stylings of Ms. Jessica Cannon, who has allowed me to follow her on Instagram these past three years despite my twisted obsession with her because I'm such an appreciative fan. It's a really good video.

Liam's message was not lost on Finn because later that night Jodee discovered a little present left behind in the potty. We had a guest over, so it took just a few minutes of awkward interviewing to determine, with absolutely certainty, that Finn was the culprit. The fact that it happened again then next day meant it was official. My seven-year run of handling poopy diapers has come to an end. The next time I desperately want something from Finn, I'll have to remember which man of the house he actually looks up to.