3V0728.01 CAUSE – toilet training; cause, agent, effect (1/20/80)

We have tried to interest Peggy in using a small toilet. She plays with it,
pushing around the house, chasing the dog with it, and so forth –
investigating the removable pot and peering at it every which way. Now
she knows the clothes come off before using the toilet and that one sits
down over the hole, but doing so distresses her, perhaps frightens her
about falling through. (She sits on it only with the lid down.)
Another aspect of this toilet training situation has been my suspicion
(based on my own recollections from infancy) that Peggy might not
know that SHE shits in her diapers, ie. she might not connect at all any
activity or somatic feelings of hers with the appearance of feces in her
diapers. Recently I had asked her, when she requested a diaper change
and it was filthy, whether she had shit in her diapers. She uniformly
answered ‘no.’ Today she came over and said, ‘Diaper change…shitty.’
‘Did you shit in your diapers ?’ I asked. When Peggy answered, ‘Yes,’ I
continued ‘Why didn’t you shit in the toilet ?’ Peggy replied, ‘ ‘Cause.’

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