Potty training is a difficult period in any kid’s life. One day you’re tearing about peeing anytime and on anything as the spirit leads, and the next your parents are imploring you to apply a certain unnatural discipline to this most natural of functions. That process can go smoothly or not so much.
Our hero was a little tow-headed nit, the kind of scamp whose very presence brings a smile. The only time he sat still was when he was unconscious. Some of his sustenance was derived via food he shoved down his gullet, while the rest he seemed to absorb through his face. This young man was simply adorable.
His parents were making great strides in the potty training process. The kid was eager to please, and his folks made it a game. No matter what he was doing, when the urge hit he scampered into the bathroom, threw up the lid, and did his business.
The kid had to step up on his tiptoes to accommodate the geometry of Mr. Crapper’s masterpiece (No kidding, the guy who perfected the flush toilet was an Englishman named Thomas Crapper. One of his nine patents covered a contraption called the Floating Ballcock. Google it.) Thusly configured, his little miniature manhood was just barely up to the task.
The kid’s mom had adorned the toilet seat lid with one of those covers made from thick shag carpet that were popular back in the day. I have no idea why people ever gravitated towards those things. It made the commode look like some enormous turquoise space fungus. Those thick covers also had some unfortunate effects on the physics of the device.