I’ll tell you I’ve never paid attention to this before, but I’m sure paying attention now, moms are truly amazing. Grocery shopping with a toddler was a challenge in and of itself, but adding a newborn to the mix I’ve found requires super skills and an engineering degree!
I’m certain it was a man who invented shopping carts - a bachelor no less, without even a niece or a nephew to think about. Maybe his mother mentioned to him that they should have a little seat for a kid somewhere, so he stuck one in there, but he must have been reading some strange statistic that said families only have one and maybe ½ kids! So shopping carts are obviously not made for gigantic families like ours (yes we have two now). If the infant seat goes in the basket…where do you put the groceries? If it goes in the seat area…where do you put the toddler? And regardless of what method is “best” the toddler will certainly disagree and want to be wherever the baby is…or else he will be playing fireman, and pushing the cart (and the precariously perched baby seat) away from you as you stop to pick out some tomatoes! So….shopping is a challenge! Kudos to all you other moms who already have this one down to an art…I’m impressed!
Anyway, as if shopping (and having a newborn) weren’t challenging enough add to it that we’re potty training our toddler. No, I’m not a masochistic mother…this potty training idea was actually daddy’s idea. We decided to use General Conference weekend to make it happen, since we’d both be home all weekend, and basically be sitting there for hours just waiting to hear “I gotta go pee pee” (and listening to the speakers too of course). Now, The Snack is an amazing toddler, and I knew that once he was ready for this it would just “click” which really it did, and he’s doing great, but…we still have our challenges (wow it’s hard to wipe a bum while nursing a month old baby!). So, Bryce and I…well, really The Snack, determined that Pull-ups are nothing more than glorified diapers, so we decided to do away with them in our potty training (it’s so convenient to just pee pee and keep playing when you know it’s not going to come running down your leg). And so day 1 without Pull-ups and I find myself…dun dun dun…at Walmart of all places.
Now, you experienced mothers know that being out in public with a potty training toddler requires “mom training” more than anything else, but keeping track of time in the black hole called Walmart is virtually impossible! So we’re standing in the check out line 2 minutes from being done and a frantic little voice pipes up, “huh! I gotta go pee pee!” (que the music)…dun dun dun “wait, Snack, can you wait?! Don’t go, ok?!” “Ok, mama” and he waited!!! Wow, what a kid. So 2 minutes later I’m rushing off to find a bathroom (of course only to find out hours later that I left my last bag at the check out…another story). When I get there I just stop and stare at the door dumbfounded. What do I do now? I have a cart full of groceries, including melting popsicles, a month old baby sleeping in a carrier, and a toddler who needs to pee! And I’m staring at the door of a WALMART BATHROOM! Darn those little bladders! So I bump the door open with my butt and peek inside. “Oh…there is just no way I’m going in there!” Grimy floors, scummy stalls, and where the heck do you put the shopping cart and the baby…never mind how in the world you get a toddler to pee in a toilet without touching it!
So here’s the big question. What’s more daring…
Braving a Walmart bathroom?
Or
Taking a gamble and facing the possibility of pee all over the car etc.?
So I made my choice…
I’m certain it was a man who invented shopping carts - a bachelor no less, without even a niece or a nephew to think about. Maybe his mother mentioned to him that they should have a little seat for a kid somewhere, so he stuck one in there, but he must have been reading some strange statistic that said families only have one and maybe ½ kids! So shopping carts are obviously not made for gigantic families like ours (yes we have two now). If the infant seat goes in the basket…where do you put the groceries? If it goes in the seat area…where do you put the toddler? And regardless of what method is “best” the toddler will certainly disagree and want to be wherever the baby is…or else he will be playing fireman, and pushing the cart (and the precariously perched baby seat) away from you as you stop to pick out some tomatoes! So….shopping is a challenge! Kudos to all you other moms who already have this one down to an art…I’m impressed!
Anyway, as if shopping (and having a newborn) weren’t challenging enough add to it that we’re potty training our toddler. No, I’m not a masochistic mother…this potty training idea was actually daddy’s idea. We decided to use General Conference weekend to make it happen, since we’d both be home all weekend, and basically be sitting there for hours just waiting to hear “I gotta go pee pee” (and listening to the speakers too of course). Now, The Snack is an amazing toddler, and I knew that once he was ready for this it would just “click” which really it did, and he’s doing great, but…we still have our challenges (wow it’s hard to wipe a bum while nursing a month old baby!). So, Bryce and I…well, really The Snack, determined that Pull-ups are nothing more than glorified diapers, so we decided to do away with them in our potty training (it’s so convenient to just pee pee and keep playing when you know it’s not going to come running down your leg). And so day 1 without Pull-ups and I find myself…dun dun dun…at Walmart of all places.
Now, you experienced mothers know that being out in public with a potty training toddler requires “mom training” more than anything else, but keeping track of time in the black hole called Walmart is virtually impossible! So we’re standing in the check out line 2 minutes from being done and a frantic little voice pipes up, “huh! I gotta go pee pee!” (que the music)…dun dun dun “wait, Snack, can you wait?! Don’t go, ok?!” “Ok, mama” and he waited!!! Wow, what a kid. So 2 minutes later I’m rushing off to find a bathroom (of course only to find out hours later that I left my last bag at the check out…another story). When I get there I just stop and stare at the door dumbfounded. What do I do now? I have a cart full of groceries, including melting popsicles, a month old baby sleeping in a carrier, and a toddler who needs to pee! And I’m staring at the door of a WALMART BATHROOM! Darn those little bladders! So I bump the door open with my butt and peek inside. “Oh…there is just no way I’m going in there!” Grimy floors, scummy stalls, and where the heck do you put the shopping cart and the baby…never mind how in the world you get a toddler to pee in a toilet without touching it!
So here’s the big question. What’s more daring…
Braving a Walmart bathroom?
Or
Taking a gamble and facing the possibility of pee all over the car etc.?
So I made my choice…
“Can you wait, Snack?” And, hallelujah, he did! What a kid!
