anal stage

n. In psychoanalysis, the second stage of development, in which the focus of pleasure shifts from the mouth to the anus as the enervation of the anal region develops sufficiently for both muscular control and more accurate perception, beginning before age 2 and usually ending after age 3. In the early portion of this stage the child is focused on the pleasure of expelling feces and in the second part of the stage with controlling the expulsion of feces. Integrating parental demands for bowel control with the pleasure of expelling feces at appropriate times leads to the beginnings of the development of superego and the strengthening of ego.