Potty Training

We're still potty training. She only wears diapers at bedtime. Stays dry during nap time. Has has several days with zero accidents, but plenty of days with one, maybe two accidents. Mostly has a problem with poo. I've heard that's quite common when kids are potty training. Overall I feel good about it though. She's definitely getting it. As long as she's not too distracted she does pretty well. I think a few more weeks and she'll have it down. While I've had to clean up my fair share of bodily fluids over the last couple of weeks, I am still happy I'm not changing diapers all day. Plus, it makes me laugh every time I see her bum crack, which is much more visible in underwear than diapers.

We did have one awful experience last week. So, a little back story: every time we go grocery shopping we pass a McDonald's. I have never taken Layla there, but she can see the playground that is inside since it is all windows surrounding the play area. So every time we drive by she says, "I want to go to Old McDonald's!" I have been telling her for months that as soon as she wears underwear I will take her there to play. Even though it disgusts me.

Of course she remembered what I told her. She remembers everything. Seriously, her memory amazes me. So finally last Monday I decided that would be the day she could go since she'd been wearing underwear for several days in a row and was doing pretty good at potty training. Now, this was Monday, and the last time she had gone poop was on Friday. I was so happy because she went poop Monday morning, so I figured since that was out of her system we were safe to go to McDonald's without risking a poop incident.

I was so wrong.

She had been playing for about 20 minutes when a little girl about 6 years old came down the slide and told her mom she had someone else's poop on her back. Of course this mom was one of those over-paranoid mean moms who scare me and I try to stay away from. (I overheard her earlier saying to one of the other parents, "Is that your daughter because she was bullying my daughter!" You know the type.)

Instantly I knew it was Layla, but she was at the top of the slide so I couldn't know for sure. When she finally came down I looked her over but saw no traces of poop anywhere on her clothes. So I told her to sit down and eat her lunch, trying to play it cool so that other mom wouldn't rip my head off. Then I casually stuck my finger in the back of Layla's skirt to see if it really was her or not, and wouldn't you know it I stuck my finger right in her poopy, diarrhea, mess of underwear.

I didn't say a word. I didn't want anyone to know and I didn't want Layla to say anything about it either. Everyone was already leaving and workers were notified to clean up the mess. I rushed Layla to the bathroom and stood in the stall with her, not knowing what to do. I had extra clothes for her and wipes, but I couldn't figure out how to get the dirty clothes off of her without getting poop everywhere.

So, I got poop everywhere. It was inevitable. It was up the entire sleeve of my sweater, on her shoes, my sunglasses fell of my head and into the poop (smart move, I know), and it was just a nasty mess. I cleaned up as best I could, wadded up all our clothes into my sweater, and washed our hands. Sped all the way home. Immediately bathed Layla, changed my clothes, washed our clothes twice with color-safe bleach, sanitized my glasses, and tried to tell myself it was all okay.

Then I sent Mitch a text message that said, "Well, it was our kid who pooped in the McDonald's playground." He called me right away, thankfully didn't laugh because it hadn't been long enough for it to be funny yet, and let me tell him the whole nasty story.

I wasn't mad. I honestly think she had an upset stomach and it was totally out of her control. I just felt bad for her and didn't know how to handle the situation. Obviously I knew I needed to clean her up, but I couldn't figure out how without making a worse mess. And I still can't figure out how that other little girl had poop on her, yet Layla had none on the exterior of her clothes. How is that possible? Did someone else poop in there too?  I guess we'll never know. And we will never go back. Ever.

That being said, we have not had such a bad accident since and potty training is going well. One day at a time, right?