Going number 2, Bryce would always scurry while seemingly asking for permission from us. It was the case even if he could already take off his own shorts and go to the toilet alone. One possible reason was he needed us to switch the light on.

This particular day — yesterday — marked a milestone in his life — in our lives! As always, after a short while, he would holler for us and we were expecting it — to go to the comfort room and wash his behind. But not this time.

We heard a flush then some splash and there he was, in front of us in our home office. Jaycelle and I both turned around from our workstations in utter disbelief. How come?

Bryce washed his own pwet! We couldn’t believe it — we couldn’t rely instantly on what happened. Was the process impeccable? We wanted to see his hands and bum if there were remnants of the brown matter.

Show us how you did it

We asked him to show us how he did it. All of us three marched back to the C.R. for a little reenactment. He just said that after pooping, he stood up and dipped his hands into the pail of water and grabbed the soap and soaped his butt. I believed that’s also how he rinsed it — dipped his hands into the pail and rubbed the suds off.

Being the adult in the picture, I tried to teach him a “technique” of using the dipper in his right hand and using his left hand in grabbing the soap and rubbing his butt. But he told me off. “Don’t teach me,” he said.

Out the door we all went. Bryce wore his half-soaked shorts. We trusted his way and let go of the idea of redoing the washing ourselves. Whether it is really clean or not, what mattered was that he felt he did a good job. And good job, he did.

I hugged Jaycelle and semi-sobbed because our baby isn’t a baby anymore. Mind you, my concern wasn’t in a graduation-like manner. It was because of another item that was crossed off in the list of Things I Need Mommy & Daddy For.