Oh boy... 'you're-in' trouble!!

Today was a day I was longing for diapers. Doesn’t happen very often, but when Libby and I walked out of Target today and finally got back to the van, she decided she needed to 'go potty right now, Mommy!!’ Oh man, what I wouldn’t have given for a Pamper... or a Pull-up...or heck, even a patch of grass.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve looked at a calendar lately, but Christmas is just a month away (I know, makes me a little light-headed just to say it), and we were aaaallll the way at the end of the Target parking lot. Evidently other people have decided to knock out some of that pesky Christmas shopping, and weren’t just there for a nail buffer and chocolate. We were parked so far away, we were practically OUT of the parking lot, at that point (I think the actual latitude and longitude were ‘BFE’).

“Mommy, Mommy, I have to go NOW!” Of course, she couldn’t have gone when we were in the Target bathroom, which was WHILE WE WERE IN THE STORE JUST FIVE MINUTES AGO. I even asked, as all good mommies usually remember to do, “Do you need to go potty?” (yet another word that has sadly become a routine part of my vocabulary… i.e. ‘Phil, could you stop at the next rest area? I need to go potty.’ Seriously…) Of course she didn't need to use the bathroom, but decided that she DID need to wash her hands. For approximately 6 to 7 minutes.

Nope, she needs to go NOW, when the store is so far away, all I can make out when I look at it is that little red and white target on the side of the building. Egad! So, I quickly get her out of her carseat, and grab her hand to start the long trek back into the store. Well that won’t do… “Mommy I have to go NOW!! I’m gonna pee-pee in my pants!” I ask you…what’s a mommy to do?!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I resigned myself to standing next to my van, holding my child by the arms, so she could squat to pee in the parking lot. (Okay now, no comments from my college pals about, ‘like mother, like daughter’, mmmm-kay?! No one would believe that anyway… ahem ;-)

I kept looking around, whispering frantically, ‘Hurry up!’, as if I expected someone to come along and say… say what? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe something along the lines of… ‘Omigod! This lady’s letting her kid urinate in the parking lot! Security! Call Child Protective Services!’

No, today was not my most shining ‘motherhood moment’.

Makes me think… maybe I was little premature in taking the little potty out of the back of the van. Makes me think… maybe I need to be more insistent when we’re in the bathroom, that she needs to at least try to go.

Makes me think… I’m DEFINITELY throwing out these flip-flops.