Let's play a game
Yesterday I had the pleasure (read: hellish experience) of driving the children home from Peoria by myself. Josh was staying at his parents' house and I needed to meet my parents in Chicago so they could help with the kids this week. I had timed it perfectly so I would arrive just as my parents were getting off the train so that I would not have to lift Emmie in and out of the car.
Except that particular timing meant we had to leave AFTER nap. And driving long distances with Emmie when she's not sleeping is not fun for anyone. She screams the entire time, outside of the first 25 minutes or any time she has a cup of milk in her piehole. As I can't keep refilling her cup while I am driving alone, that means she is only happy for about 10 additional minutes.
Yesterday, she screamed/whined/cried for approximately 2.5 of the three hours we were in the car. And when I say 2.5 hours, I mean it felt like 25.5 hours.
With 45 minutes to go, Jack's announcement that he had to pee went over really well. I couldn't figure out what to do because he was almost crying and Emmie was screaming and I knew I couldn't lift her out of the carseat and carry her into a bathroom and hold her while trying to help Jack with the potty. And there was no way I was going to be the headline the next day, "Mother leaves toddler alone in car; Child Protective Services says Incompetent Cervix is no excuse."
I asked Jack if he thought he could just pee on the ground next to the car and he looked at me like I had grown a second head and he howled, "Noooooooooooo Mommy. I have to pee in the potty. Not on the ground."
OK. But then the genius moment hit me. I had a McDonald's cup in the car. He had peed in a cup before at the doctor's office and thought it was great fun. I asked him if he wanted to play a fun game.
"What is it?" he asked excitedly.
"You can pee in this cup! Won't that be crazy?" I asked him.
He replied that he would indeed like to play that crazy game. So we pulled over at the very next exit, which happened to have nothing in sight but an empty Ramada Inn parking lot. When life hands you lemons, you make Ramada Inn lemonade. Except that yellow liquid damn well isn't Country Time.
He jumped out of his seat, stood next to car and peed like a champ in the cup. He had a huge smile on his face and announced when he was done, "I dump it out, Mommy!" Umm, not so much buddy. "But Mommy, I will be verrrrrry careful." Again, negativo. But I think he was so happy to find relief that he honestly didn't care.
For anyone who happened to be staying at the Ramada Inn and looking out the window at that time, don't worry. Pee is quite sterile and I dumped it in the grass, not in a puddle on the concrete that you could step in accidentally.
Oh, and I disposed of the cup in my very own garbage can at home. I would have hated for anyone to get the wrong idea about the contents of that cup and have them try to sip the dregs of an orange drink in haste.
Except that particular timing meant we had to leave AFTER nap. And driving long distances with Emmie when she's not sleeping is not fun for anyone. She screams the entire time, outside of the first 25 minutes or any time she has a cup of milk in her piehole. As I can't keep refilling her cup while I am driving alone, that means she is only happy for about 10 additional minutes.
Yesterday, she screamed/whined/cried for approximately 2.5 of the three hours we were in the car. And when I say 2.5 hours, I mean it felt like 25.5 hours.
With 45 minutes to go, Jack's announcement that he had to pee went over really well. I couldn't figure out what to do because he was almost crying and Emmie was screaming and I knew I couldn't lift her out of the carseat and carry her into a bathroom and hold her while trying to help Jack with the potty. And there was no way I was going to be the headline the next day, "Mother leaves toddler alone in car; Child Protective Services says Incompetent Cervix is no excuse."
I asked Jack if he thought he could just pee on the ground next to the car and he looked at me like I had grown a second head and he howled, "Noooooooooooo Mommy. I have to pee in the potty. Not on the ground."
OK. But then the genius moment hit me. I had a McDonald's cup in the car. He had peed in a cup before at the doctor's office and thought it was great fun. I asked him if he wanted to play a fun game.
"What is it?" he asked excitedly.
"You can pee in this cup! Won't that be crazy?" I asked him.
He replied that he would indeed like to play that crazy game. So we pulled over at the very next exit, which happened to have nothing in sight but an empty Ramada Inn parking lot. When life hands you lemons, you make Ramada Inn lemonade. Except that yellow liquid damn well isn't Country Time.
He jumped out of his seat, stood next to car and peed like a champ in the cup. He had a huge smile on his face and announced when he was done, "I dump it out, Mommy!" Umm, not so much buddy. "But Mommy, I will be verrrrrry careful." Again, negativo. But I think he was so happy to find relief that he honestly didn't care.
For anyone who happened to be staying at the Ramada Inn and looking out the window at that time, don't worry. Pee is quite sterile and I dumped it in the grass, not in a puddle on the concrete that you could step in accidentally.
Oh, and I disposed of the cup in my very own garbage can at home. I would have hated for anyone to get the wrong idea about the contents of that cup and have them try to sip the dregs of an orange drink in haste.
posted by Amy at
8:59 PM
6 Comments:
THIS is why we have a no-shoes-on-in-the-house rule. :)
Ha!
In May, during one of our "Burning up I-40" trips (funeral, graduation, family reunion) X-man said he needed to go and we were no where near a potty stop. We suggested peeing on the side of the road. He thought that sounded fun.
Pulled off the highway onto the access road. X-man and daddy got out of the car and X used daddy to lean on.
10 minutes later he wanted to "tee tee in the bushes again!!" And I kid you not, he went again!
So on long car trips after that, he tells us he needs to go, but "I'll just go in the bushes."
Oh wow, what a drive! Lifting restrictions can't be any fun. Good thing you're a creative one :)
Owen loves peeing outside, so much so that a couple years ago we had to restrict it just to Grandma and Grandpa's house (the ones who live on a farm). Otherwise he was peeing in our backyard all the time.
poor you. A screaming toddler while driving just about sends me over the edge. Thanks to our portable dvd player, we no longer have that problem. We found a cheap dual screen player at Target.
Way to go Jack, peeing in a cup, the joy of being a boy.
this makes me really look forward to the 10 hour drive with all three kids alone when we move in a few weeks. fun!
"When life hands you lemons, you make Ramada Inn lemonade."-- that's awesome.
Jack is a car screamer, too, and we are making the trek to Peoria soon and at the crack of dawn, hoping against hope that he goes back to sleep.
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