A Mid-Potty Training Experience

Today I took my boys (hehe! Isn't that hilarious!?) to Target while Leah was at a safety program. The trip was about an hour long, and both the guys were great! Adam slept the whole time in his carseat, and Ben was just excited to be in his favorite store (you know, the one where he usually gets either an Icee, a toy, or both.)

Towards the end of the trip, Ben started jumping up and down and screeching, "Change diaper! Change diaper!" I officially call this behavior "spazzing out". I was very hopeful that this meant that he had to go poopy, since he has done this whole routine at home after putting a dooky in his underpants. I hurried us over to the family bathroom, which was taken. The next option (and only one left!) was to take Adam in his carseat, grab the diaper bag and shuffle us all into the handicapped stall of the women's bathroom.

I got his shorts and diaper off, and stationed him properly on the toilet. Aaron has taught him to sit towards the back and lean forward so that his little wiener points into the potty. So clever! Anyway, nothing happened. Apparently it all went into the diaper...Mommy took too long to get to the bathroom. Ooops.

I put a pull-up on him, and then used the toilet myself. Just as I was finishing (after Ben pushed the door open several times...), he started the spazzing routine again, this time even more ferociously. Sure this time was for real, I yanked his shorts and pull-up down around his ankles and plunked him on the potty again. However, with them there and not completely off, he couldn't assume the proper position for peeing, and neither could he hold it while I got it right.

So, he peed directly out in front of him. Which is where I happened to be.

Somehow I was standing far enough away to avoid the stream, but his pull-up and shorts (and the floor and side of the toilet) were not so lucky. Ben was freaking out the whole time, and Adam had also decided to throw in his 10 cents. I had long given up trying to keep things sounding normal in our stall, and was focusing on just trying to get out alive.

Also running through my head was the fact that that thoroughly soaked pull-up had been the ONLY one in my diaper bag.

I cleaned up Ben and the surrounding area, and then made a brave decision. I told Ben that I was just going to put on his shorts on him, without anything else. That's right. I had my 3 year old non-potty-trained son go commando in a public place.

We paid for our stuff, and then in the van I put another diaper on him. While he spazzed out about not having his shoes on.