Potty break

Another motherhood milestone is behind me: Andy peed in a public restroom.  I managed not have a heartattack about all the germs (well, at least, not yet).

In our day of errands, Andy tells me that he wants to use the potty in Target.  Great, I think.  I try my best to convince him to use the potty I carry around in the car for just such a reason, but to no avail.  So there I am, standing in the Target parking lot with the rain beginning to dribble and I have to figure out in a split second, how I'm going to manage this one.  Do I forsake the cart and bring both kids in?  Hold Elizabeth on my hip and hold Andy's hand and walk through the parking lot, praying he doesn't yank his hand away from me and she doesn't wrest herself out of my arms to be on the ground with Brother?  And then what do I do with her once we're in the bathroom?  How do I simulatneously keep both of them from touching all disease-harboring surfaces?  Deciding I can't do any of this, I put her in the cart and allow Andy to ride hanging onto the side - his newest favorite thing to do. 

But of course, the downfall of this option is getting the cart into the bathroom.  The bathrooms are not designed for this.  Great to reduce shop lifiting, not great for me.  But praise God there was only one other person in the bathroom, since my cart took up much of the free space.  And only one person for Andy to walk up to the stall, stick his fingers through the stall walls and ask what she was doing.  Yes, this is my child.  The same one that asked "what's that on her leg?" about a tatoo he saw recently.  At least when I told him she had a picture on her leg, he said, "Oh, a picture.  Cool!"  I wasn't leaving any chances about what he thought about the lady in the bathroom and got him into the stall.

So Mama wipes the toilet seat down - so gross - and tells Andy 14 times NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING.  Sweet boy, he holds his hands up and says, "I won't touch anything!"  Pants down, he's on the seat.  Door is open, the cart is pushed into the stall.  I stand at the end of the cart, in front of Andy.  Again, I'm just thankful no one else was in the bathroom.  No one to witness how inept my first foray into public pee-peeing with a preschooler actually was.  But since the big stall was taken, I couldn't just leave my baby in a shopping cart while I was behind a closed stall door, could I?  Nor could I leave Andy to take care of business on his own or he would TOUCH SOMETHING. 

It was when I went to pull Andy's pants back up - he was struggling - that I realized - they were already wet.  Little stinker had already peed his pants, so what the heck was I doing in the dirty public bathroom and why didn't he need to go the 47 times I asked him previously?  And my second question: how in the world am I going to get him to quit peeing in his car seat?  Evidently, its not something I'm going to be able to do.  If walking around Target in wet undies and shorts doesn't bother him, not much I can do will change his mind.  And of course, although I'd packed two extra changes, those were dry in the car.  With the imminent rain, Mama only grabbed the essentials.  We're probably at the point where I need to carry the big purse, with room for a change of clothes and all my coupons.

Despite all obstacles, we made it.  No one's been struck down by disease (again, not yet) and they didn't kick us out of Target for defying store policy and bringing the cart in with us.  And since I spent $75 on diapers, I'm guessing I have more days of little kids in public restrooms ahead of me.