Isaac, Toddler Thespian

One of Isaac's most requested reads is "It's Potty Time", a book about a little dude learning to use the potty. Apparently in past lives, the little dude was petrified by the sound of toilets flushing -- perhaps he lived in the sewer? -- and, anticipating that others may feel the same, the book comes replete with a little button you push to hear the sound of a long, luxurious flush (finished with giggles!), just like what you would hear if you were also a big boy and just pooped on the potty. Fear of the flush was never a problem for Isaac, and I thought his latest obsession with this book would surely signal that we were knocking on the door of potty learning. It is not in the least bit so, but oh well. We are not in a terrible hurry.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this book for Isaac is that the little dude, much like Isaac, has a kitty. The book opens with the secretly coercive assertion that "Everybody uses the potty," and, to further hammer the point home, the first page shows the kitty sitting on his litter box, thus using kitty potty.

Isaac has been taught about our kitty and how he has a special potty that lives in the basement, so this page resonates with our young scholar. Long, long ago (in the years B.C., Before Children), for reasons completely unknown, Dada dubbed Cat-Brother's large litter enclosure "The Poop Condo". Because I thought "condo" wouldn't make much sense to Isaac, I recently changed it to "The Poop Box". It looks like a box, and kitty poops in there. No touching!

Now I will digress a little, but bear with me. Over the past month, Isaac's empathy and desire to role-play has matured visibly. He likes to put himself in the shoes of others to figure out, for example, why that baby is crying ("she's teething, like Pookie on the Heroes. The pediatrician come and help her."). He also takes his role-playing quite seriously. He likes to take his Toy Story guys and show them their likenesses on the covers of the Toy Story DVDs, upon seeing which he will say in the guise of the character, "THAT'S ME!"

One of his most frequent roles is that of Kitty Isaac. At least ten times a day he will drop down on all fours and crawl around the house, meowing and encouraging us to pet his head or to crawl around and meow with him. He especially likes to do this in public places with terribly filthy floors, this is how committed he is to his craft.

We didn't realize how in-depth of a character study he had done on his Kitty until this morning. He began a seemingly typical portrayal of Kitty Isaac, with meowing and a scratch on the head from Mommy and Dada. But then Kitty Isaac began pacing (still on all fours) around in circles...

Kitty Isaac: Where's my poop box?
Mommy: What are you looking for, Kitty?
Kitty Isaac: Poop box. I can't find it.
Mommy: Your 'food box'? (to Dada) Is that what he said?
Dada: I don't know. What do you need kitty?
Kitty Isaac: Poop box! I need my poop box!
Mommy: Oh my God, he is saying "poop box." Because he's a kitty.

And with that, Mommy and Dada simultaneously shot coffee out their noses. The Toddler Thespian, he takes his craft seriously. Now if only we could get him to poop in his poop box...