Nature seems to have Julia on speed dial these days

Hello, my name is Rebecca and I am raising a public pooper. I realize that I have no right to so much as whisper a word of complaint about this, given how long and hard I worked to potty train Julia, but I'm writing about it anyway because that's what mothers do -- we talk often and inappropriately about our children's elimination habits.

I can't imagine where Julia's need to defecate in public came from (certainly not her mother, who will wait indefinitely for the peace and quiet of her own pot). But show my child a public toilet (the more public, the better), and the first thing she wants to do is poop. There even seems to be a hierarchy to her selections -- a friend's house is fine, a restaurant is better, a crowded Target bathroom where I am struggling to contain Evan and keep Julia from falling in, all without letting any of us touch ANYTHING, ideal.

At first, I thought it was a coincidence. How lovely that she's uninhibited enough to do her business whenever and wherever nature calls, I told myself. But we haven't been anywhere in the past several weeks without Julia leaving a little piece of herself behind. I am now beginning to suspect this is a game, and that my daughter is actually marking her territory around town in a poop parade of sorts.

I imagine (and at this point, after countless hours spent holding my pooping daughter in place on public potties, fervently hope) that the repression that keeps the rest of polite society from pooping in public unless absolutely necessary will eventually take hold of Julia as well. In the meantime, if you smell something foul in the next stall, my apologies -- it's probably us.