The above photo may not have anything to do with my story, but sometimes I just have to capture how Gabby is drawn to all things girly.
Now for my story of the month. As you just saw from the last post, Claire turned 2. Two days later, we made our weekly grocery shopping trip. Usually, this is not a joyful hour for me, but this day would be different because Claire was two years old and could go to the play area, where someone watches your kids while you shop (for free)! Needless, to say, I was pretty excited to drop off both of my children and shop in peace and they were both very excited to play instead of being stuck in a cart and hearing me say "no" over and over.
As I was signing the girls in, Claire started talking about needing to go potty. We had just come from the beach, where she also said that she needed to go and when I took her she immediately changed her mind. This happens from time to time, but luckily, my girls have bladders of steal, go only 3-4 times a day (only because I make them before and after sleeping) and have never had an accident while we have been out. I took her to the bathroom again, knowing she would change her mind and she did. She was too excited to be in the play area and not as excited about the bathroom. Oh well, off to the play area she goes.
Away I went, with no children! Ah, the freedom! The peace of --- [interrupted by Claire's worst scream in the short distance I had made it away from her]. I returned those ten steps to the play area. Claire was sitting at the coloring table screaming as if she was in horrible pain. I didn't understand what the problem was until - oh, no, she couldn't have. She peed in her little shorts her first time in the play area! She has been potty trained for 6 months without any accident and she chose that time and place to let it go. And because she has never needed them, I stopped carrying spare clothes around.
Those who have heard this story assume that I left the store at that point. What mother in her right mind would do an entire grocery shopping trip with a child covered in pee? Well, me. I had way too much going on that week to be able to make it back to the store and we needed dinner that night. Claire would just have to deal with it and I would just have to hope that we weren't leaving a trail of urine smell behind us. With Claire's wet bum sitting on the cart and Gabby in the play area, we did our shopping in record time and hurried home to finally change her.
The moral of the story? Wipe down your shopping carts with the wipes they provide at the store entrance. (I did try to clean down the cart with wipes, but I still wouldn't want to be the next customer to put my purse on that seat....)
2 comments:
Not only do we put our purses in that spot, but lettuce and other produce (in spite of being bagged). How gross, Jennefer (Claire)! It's good you didn't immediately run home, either. She made her bed; she could lie in it, too! Hopefully she learned something that day, too.
[Something in this story reminds me of Grandma and Sandra. Sandra, on a few of those occasions, found the cheapest pair of sweats to change her into. Luckily, they were at Fred Meyer. Unluckily, it wasn't #1!]
Ah, this is great! I was ready for a much worse explosion. More than once I have just thrown away underwear at the store. But I haven't plopped anyone in the cart yet. Better luck next time. I'm jealous that I assume you're getting to shop at Fred Meyer and my only option for kid-free shopping is Ikea.
emily nolte
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