She Didn't Make It :(

I feel like we have made some huge strides with Hadley and going potty in the toilet. I trust her a whole lot when out and about since she finally accepts using public bathrooms now. Today, I am partially to blame for the accident though.

I usually have her go potty before leaving the house but for some reason, I forgot to remind her and decided to go food shopping after drop-off of Hayden. Everything was going great and I then asked her to go potty. She said, "Yeah, I have to go potty," and decided to walk down to the front of the store to go. I had a cart full of things since I was close to being done and we tried to go in the family bathroom, but it was occupied. We waited since I heard them finishing up. I kept growing more and more concerned in my gut because I wasn't too sure if Hadley could truly hold it for much longer. I debated going in the women's room, but wondered how to shuffle kids and cart in there and figured they'd be out in the same amount of time.

Thirty seconds before the door opened, I hear and noticed trickling coming from her bottom down the cart and into a puddle on the floor. I was beside myself and felt like I had let her down. What made my blood boil was that the person coming out of that "family bathroom" that we so desperately needed to use, was none other than an employee of the store.

REALLY?!!

She couldn't have used the women's room? She walked on by and I started to wonder how the heck I was going to clean the mess up. I looked for paper towels and there were none in any of the bathrooms. I looked down the area and no associates were present to flag down, to help clean up this possibly preventable accident. I went a couple paces away from my girls in the cart and leaned over the pharmacy counter to ask them to page for assistance in a clean up. I waited and waited and still nothing. I poked my head around the corner again and an employee walking by asked if I needed anything. I finally explained that my daughter had an accident and needed paper towels to wipe things dry (particularly the cart and my daughter).

The employee reassured me it was okay and went to get paper towels for me. She returned and I started to salvage things. I removed Hadley's socks and shoes all soaked in pee and placed paper towels underneath her. The guy came to help clean up and I was told to go finish shopping. I completed my task and checked out and went to leave for the car.

We stopped at the door to get a receipt checked and Hadley told the lady she peed her pants. The lady said, "Oh no. Did you do your potty dance?"

She then proceeded to ask if I had seen the potty dance on TV.

I smirked and said, "Yes, I think so," and then proceeded to think in my mind instead of say out loud that I knew she needed to go potty and got her to the potty, but it was occupied by the employee standing 2 feet to the right of you. I figured that would be inappropriate and not very Christ-like.

I proceeded with a smile saying thank you and walked to the car. I unloaded everything and left Hadley for last. Luckily, my supply of clothes and things were stocked in the car and I proceeded to clean her off and change her.

To make matters more frustrating, I needed to get some more gas and stopped at a nearby station. I pulled up to the first pump and got out. I ran my card and went to select the right grade of gas and it wasn't responding or registering. I hit cancel and then backed up to the one behind me. I did the same thing and that one flashed a screen saying "See cashier inside for authorization."

Seriously! At that point, my baby was screaming in the car and I had no motive to unload both kids and go inside to get permission to pump gas for my car. Fed up, I got back in my car after canceling yet another transaction and went to the next closest gas station. After I pulled up to a pump, a worker approached me and asked if I wanted him to pump the gas for me. I just chuckled and said, "No thanks. I've got it."

There was no way I was letting him do it for me so I could sit in a car listening to screaming baby while he did it for me. I didn't know if I had to tip him either so why not circumvent that whole situation all together.

Kind of frustrating to experience all that at once and felt a little done after that. I was very proud of one thing though. I never once screamed at Hadley and lost my cool. It truly wasn't totally her fault and I am glad I kept reminding myself that to help her learn better.