|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Life is full of achievements and it's about time we started recognizing more of them. Not all of us can run a marathon, climb Mount Everest or date Angelina Jolie, but our achievements are still worthy of recognition. My wife and I, for example, have been eager to congratulate our 3-year-old daughter, Lekha, on her wonderful achievement. We are filled with pride whenever she screams from the bathroom, "Mommy, Daddy! I pooped! Come and see!" I'm sure the neighbors are proud, too, for Lekha screams loud enough for them to hear. Such phenomenal success, she figures, must be shared with the world. And I tend to agree -- that's why I'm mentioning it here. For years to come, people will stumble upon this column and applaud the little girl who cast aside her diapers and learned to use a toilet, saving her parents millions of dollars. Lekha's achievement, I can confidently say, is one of the greatest of the past year, right up there with Lance Armstrong winning a seventh Tour de France and Ricky Williams passing a drug test. Armstrong had conquered the Tour six times before and knew what to expect. His biggest worry -- losing his balance and falling off his bike -- was nothing compared to little Lekha's biggest worry: losing her balance, falling into the big hole and getting flushed away. That's why, whenever she's done climbing Mount Lavatory, she runs to me and shouts, "Daddy, I pooped!" or "Daddy, I peed." And I say, "Good job, Lekha! You're a big girl now!" Having readily shared her success with everyone, Lekha is always eager to find out about other people's success. As soon as I walk out of the bathroom, she questions me about what I accomplished in there, making me feel like a star athlete at a post-game interview: "Daddy, which one did you do -- poop or pee?"It's been many years since anyone congratulated me for using the toilet, so needless to say, I appreciate Lekha's thoughtfulness. Given her creativeness, I won't be surprised if she soon sends me a greeting card, using her crayons to draw a stick figure of me perched atop the porcelain bowl, with a congratulatory message below: "Way to go, big boy!" Perhaps Lekha can create an entire line of greeting cards to recognize various achievements that adults take for granted. The eating card: "Congratulations, big boy! You ate all the food on your plate, including all that green stuff. You deserve the Nobel Peas Prize." The toothpaste card: "Good job, big girl! You brushed your teeth all by yourself. That's a big achievement, never mind that you missed the opportunity to paint your shirt with toothpaste." The shoe card: "Well done, big girl! You tied your shoelaces without any help from your mommy. And you managed to put your left shoe on your left foot. You must be good at guessing!" The bathroom card: "Nice going, big guy! You used the restroom and remembered to not only flush the toilet, but also wash your hands. You deserve the Presidential Medal of Honor. By the way, big guy, which one did you do -- poop or pee?"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The big achievement that makes us proud