I just went through a stack of mom’s-stuff-stashed-away-when-cleaning-for-a-party-and-forgotten-about and stumbled on a green three inch by three inch curved piece of plastic. What was it? A tres modern chair for the Polly Pockets? A piece to a bicycle seat? Some treasure from a birthday party? My husband also scratched his head at the unidentifiable object.
I was just about to put it in the “mom’s-unidentifiable-but-probably-useful” pile when it occurred to me what it was….the shield to a potty seat. The shield sits at the front of a potty chair and is supposed to prevent a little boy’s spray from squirting you in the eye while they are sitting. This reminded me to warn our readers/listeners who didn’t have a chance to listen to our potty training podcast to throw the shields away. They cause more harm than good when an excited little guy tries to jump quickly on and off the potty.
Why didn’t I throw mine away? Who knows. I have a patient’s family who kept the dried out remains of her belly button cord after it fell off. After keeping them for thirty years, my own mother recently tried to give me back my twenty baby teeth. I was going to throw the green piece of plastic away. Maybe I’ll just keep it and give it to my son when he has his first child…boy, will he be surprised.
Naline Lai, MD
©2009 Two Peds in a Pod®
