There are times when I'm so glad to have a sense of humour. There are times when I'm glad to have the anonymity of the city. This morning was one of those times.
We'd been busy, out running some errands - things that tire a three year old and a nearly three year old out rather quickly when done in succession. In a soft-hearted moment driving past a McDonald's, I thought, "Why not? We haven't been to the Playplace since pre-move and they behaved well at the stores. It is almost lunch." We ate some chicken nuggets and then they started to play. There were no other kids on the play structure, but the tables were all full of parents just sitting down with their children to eat. All was well.
The downfall was that I'd asked the wrong kid if he needed to use the bathroom.
"Mommy, I need to go poo!" - Okay, quickly come on down. Let's go!
"Mommy!! Mommy! I need to go pee." - Come down quickly, honey!
She happened to be yelling from the little bubble at the top of the slide. Then she happened to be crying inconsolably. Then the pee happened to come out of a hole 12 feet to the ground below. Oh help. I told her not to move, grabbed the only napkins I had and scrabbled up through the tower (giving thanks I'm not too tall nor too broad!). Fortunately most of the pee had gone out so I could soak up what was left. Fortunately she was wearing a dress that hadn't gotten wet, so I could strip off her tights and undies and not leave McDonalds with a bare-bottomed kid! I got enough stares, as it was!
I left her and Ai sitting in the playroom and ran to the front counter to tell staff. The stunned worker ended up passing me a roll of paper towels and sanitizer, such service! So back I went up the tower and did my best to clean. Certainly made me wonder how often other kids have accidents and things don't get properly cleaned up. Knowing that all the parents there were pretty grossed out about what had happened, I did a pretty good job. (And now that I think of it, they likely didn't make the connection that it was 'just pee.' Still pretty nasty). I'm fairly conscientious, so I would have tried to clean it well regardless of the audience, but there's only so much you can do when you have 2 little kids waiting for you, one still in tears! Yikes. I've always felt that I'm either boosting my kids' immune system or killing it by allowing them to play in such a place. Todays incident made me really wonder . . .
Anyway, poor Iz. Was the only accident she's had and it had to be so public! She just couldn't keep her dress down as we left the play area, so I had many questioning or embarrassed glances as we exited (why would you take a kid out without underwear and leggings in a Winnipeg winter? Or anywhere for that matter?!)
And poor me. I'm always surprised when other people don't rise to 'an occasion' and offer to help out. The passing of a napkin would have been nice, at least! Lesson learned. Next time I'll make sure to insist on a bathroom break first. But I think we'll steer clear for a while as it was a fairly tiring twist of events. I'd better make an effort to hang the kids' swings from the rafters in the basement and set up their Little Tykes play structure (such is the joy of an unfinished basement). The cold weather is coming - a switch from 3 C this afternoon to -14 by tomorrow's. I'm so glad it was mild today so Iz didn't get freeze her bottome when we dashed to the van! Life is funny sometimes.
Anyone with similar stories to share? Help me feel a little more normal over here? :)
3 comments:
Well, they kicked me out of McDonalds just the other day for...
Okay, maybe not. But I would have jumped up to help, instead of watching some poor mom clean up an accident by herself!
I made a little girl cry today. Took her out of class for speaking Korean (after three warnings, of course) and made her sit in an empty classroom and do extra work. She cried and cried, even after I told her I knew she was a good student, and that I wasn't angry. Poor little kid. :( I wish it had been one of my more deserving students! (Do you feel better now?)
You're so nice, Corinne! My problem is that I've grown up with family and friends like you, so I assume that the world should be as kind and helpful at the drop of a hat!
Poor student of yours. Nice she has such a tender heart, but boy, that'd make you feel pretty rough. I remember when I taught ESL at 24, making a 19 year sob for very nicely pointing out that she hadn't done the writing assignment about her favourite memory of something. It was the same as another student's! I didn't feel quite so badly about that as I would about a little girl. Poor her, poor you. I hope your job is going well! We miss you!
James peed in the play place at the hairdresser's. It dripped all over the place! I was so embarrassed!
Post a Comment