The Joys of Parenthood

Last week Adisu decided to lose all potty training skills he had. We're not really sure of the cause/motivation but the result was that we had to diaper him and told him if he was going to act like a baby, we would treat him like one. (His English comprehension is very good and he clearly understood what we were saying.) So we put the diaper on him. We ratcheted up the babying (i.e. all the loss of privileges of being a baby without the fun (is there actual fun in being a baby?). He tried to convince himself he liked getting baby mush to eat, wearing a diaper, not being able to dress or feed himself, going to bed earlier, etc. It was pretty obvious that while he was desperately trying to convince himself he liked it, he didn't. Our greatest leverage however, was that he REALLY, REALLY didn't want to poop in his diaper. But, we nonchalantly told him that big boys only poop on the potty, babies poop in their diaper. When he was ready to be a big boy, he could use the potty again. (He was fairly happy peeing in his diaper.) So one day went by, no poop. The next day in sheer desperation, he pooped in his diaper. But, he also found out that he would have to clean the mess up. And he didn't get a cookie at the grocery store. And he didn't get to eat meat. And slowly, being a baby didn't seem so grand. But, this is one Stubborn kid. Stubborn like I have never seen. (I am stubborn myself and he puts me to shame.) So he still refused to be a big boy. But we no longer allowed him to lie about not liking cookies, meat or liking to poop in his diaper.
The next morning as we were washing him off he started to lose control of a certain bodily function. And then he finally caved and decided that rather than poop on himself, he'd like to be a big boy, pooping on the potty, wear underwear, choose his own clothes, feed himself, eat real food and regain some independence. Hurrah! So today is his first day of being a big boy again. We're all a lot happier I think.
Now we still don't know motivation behind the regression in the first place- needing to regress before moving on? testing parental authority? a control battle? fear of the Wee One? who knows? But, we have decided to praise big boy activities, provide more physical affection (that a real baby would get) and also help him remember to use the potty so he doesn't have accidents. While this was going on, Dr. Daddy and I felt torn between wanting to let him poop on the potty (less clean up for us and he was in obvious discomfort) and wanting to hold firm because that was really our trump card. Oh the joys of parenting.