Dinner Conversation

Warning: this post involves poo. Stop reading here if poo grosses you out.

You never know what conversation will occur around the Kumor dinner table. It is a special time that always makes us smile. Tonight, the conversation was interesting. Ben had to have a talk with Thane about why he needs to ask mommy or daddy to help him wipe after he goes potty.
Let's rewind a bit here....
Thane is such an independent little fellow. He honestly thinks that he can do anything that Ben or I can do. Lately he has decided that he can go potty all by himself whenever he wants/needs to and subsequently take care of the mess. Some of you have been fortunate enough to witness this. He will drop trou and start peeing wherever he feels like it. The bushes at church, a tree at the zoo, or even the car tires. Now, this is not his fault. Because he decided to potty train himself at an inconvenient time for me, I have had him pee outside many times when I forgot to have him go before leaving somewhere that had a facility. The whole wiping thing though, yeah...just a little gross.
Yesterday I noticed that he was walking around naked. I said "hey buddy, put your pants on." He left the room and came back with his pants on. Later that day I went into the bathroom and found that he had went number 2. Sure enough, inspection revealed that Thane was the culprit. He hadn't even asked for help! I cleaned him up and explained that he should ask for help next time. Guess I wasn't clear enough.
 Today, I hear him in the bathroom while I'm feeding Luke and tell him I'm coming. I walk in to find him post poo, squatting and wiping his butt on the rug. He has reached around to see if he got it all and is now wiping his hands on his shirt. Really? I can't get my 5 year old to even try to take care of this himself, but I am begging my 2 year old to let me know when he is going to go to the bathroom. Something is wrong here.
Fast foward back to the dinner table...
Ben summed it all up well with these statements to our children.
"Caleb, there are a lot of things that you don't think you can do, that you can do just fine by yourself. Thane, there are alot of things that you think you can do by yourself that you just need a little help with. What we need to do is find a happy medium."