Remind me again....

...WHY I decided that it would be a good idea to potty train Lyla already???

Okay, so I know it really is a good thing, but WOW, I didn't realize what an exhausting thing it would be!

Today we took our first big outing to the mall in Merrillville, almost an hour away.  Leaving the house took a little longer than normal.  I had to make sure she went potty a few times before we left, and I packed everything under the sun, "just in case."  I kept thinking that I forgot something so I ran back inside a million times to gather a few more unnecessary things.


And off we (finally) went... I prayed the whole time that she wouldn't tell me that she had to potty along the way, and kind of wondered what I would do if she had to.  (Um, I packed the potty chair in the car in case of an emergency...but wasn't real sure how that would work anyway...)

She was fine the whole way there, and as soon as we got there I sought out a bathroom.  Of course she didn't have to go.  Met my friend and her daughter at the playland in the middle of the mall, about a mile or so from the nearest bathroom.  We played for awhile and then it happened....she told me she had to go potty.  I felt like I was a contestant on "Minute to Win It".... I grabbed my shoes, threw them on, ran a bit, realized I forgot hers, ran back to get them, and made a mad dash for the bathroom.  Along the way she kept telling me she had to potty.  I kept praying that she could make it there, because I didn't know what I would do if she peed all over my shirt.  Of course I brought extra clothes for her, but none for me (note to self: bring a change of clothes for me from now on). 

And we made it to the bathroom! 

And the dirty public toilet seat was staring me in the face!

Grabbed a toilet seat cover, put it on the toilet, got ready to set her down, and the dumb automatic sensors flushed the toilet and flushed the darn thing with it.  Quickly grabbed a piece of toilet paper and layed it over the seat.  The toilet flushed about 10 times in the process.  Thank God Lyla didn't have a fear of public toilet seats or the flushing sound, like I hear many kids do.  Too bad she is the complete opposite.  She thought these bathrooms were the best things ever.  Wanted to touch everything, wanted to run in and out of every stall.  Yes, I washed her hands a billion times before we made it out of the bathroom.

Took a deep breath and mentally patted myself on the back for making it through our first public bathroom/outing experience.  We were 10 steps out of the bathroom door before she told me she had to go again. 

Get back in there, repeat the whole above scenario, minus the peeing in the potty.  She didn't really have to go, but she sure thought this was a fun game.  Washed her up again, left the bathroom, and the same thing happened again.  About 3 more times. 

Once we got back to the playland I thought we could relax for a bit... 5 minutes later, she had to go again.  AGAIN.

Off I go again (AGAIN!)....broke a sweat getting there AGAIN (oh wait, the sweat never had a chance to clear up from the first round)...and seriously, I kid you not, it was the whole above charade again.  She did potty a little bit but we were in and out of that darn bathroom 4 times before she made up her mind.

Back to the playland and 2 false alarms (or was it 3?) later, I vowed to not do this again until she was, like, 10.





The good news?  No accidents!