Yesterday on our Sunday evening walk, Susan had to go to the bathroom. The upside to having three toilet-independent children is that I don’t have to change any diapers. The downside is that I now forget to make everyone go before leaving the house (even though I usually go twice during the shoes-and-socks ritual, just in case).
I was feeling the evening-queasies, so I begged Tom to take her. They ran from the playground we’d just arrived at, in the far corner of the park, across two softball fields, to the other end where the bathrooms are. The bathrooms that were still locked for the winter. (Sunday evening walks in Florida were balmier on the beach in January.)
I watched from my perch on the cement wall at the playground as they ran kitty-corner across two more softball fields to the church that sits next to the park (welcome to Utah; this is the closest park to our house, but only the fourth-closest church). The church was locked. At six pm on a Sunday. (They weren’t really dressed to pee at the church on Sunday, but still.)
They crossed the street back towards us and then disappeared for several minutes. A convenient ditch runs on two sides of the park, and then they were loping back towards us, slower and less-urgent-like.
Susan ran off to play and I asked Tom how he managed to help her go without getting any on herself. (I am a girl, I have been camping: these things are complicated.) He said he held her arms and had her lean way back. (The Seagull Fountain version of the Trust Fall.) And he foraged some dry leaves for her to wipe.
I have seen those sorry leaves from last Fall. It is hard to weigh the danger of butt-leaf-mold against the value of a man so accomplished.
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Wow – totally impressed!
yup, he’s a keeper.
That is quite impressive! I feel like a terrible mom for not ever offering leaves. lol
Definitely hang on to that one!
You got a chuckle from me, especially since I know the players.
We prefer the hold them so they’re in a sitting position. Not that I would ever have my daughter pee outside. That would be as awful as getting my 3 year old son to pee on the side of the road by making his brother get out of the car to have a distance competition. All hypothetical Hypothetical. I will (hypothetically) consider the leaning back way, it might (hypothetically) be better for the back.
This is why I bounce back and forth on whether I should start potty training my 2 year old. Although disgusting, changing a diaper really is more convenient than running around at top speed looking for a bathroom!
Love your husband’s on-the-spot thinking!
Awww….that right there is why I want a girl. Is much sweeter to think about then my hubby helping our boys use nature for their needs.
I generally find in times like that I am so thankful to have boys, now when I looked over in the KMart parking lot in the middle where their one tree was planted, somewhere in wisconsin to see my two little boys who were 4 and 5 watering said tree….I was not so happy about it. especially since i was sure EVERYONE in the state saw them and saw them get out of my OKLAHOMA car and just knew we were the redneck idiots people always make us out to be….LOL
steff
What a great blog! We have been in similar predicaments w/ girls–what creativity your hubby has! These moments remind us why we save for therapy instead of college:) I’ll be back!