Potty Adventure

Notwithstanding nighttime and naptime, I think it's safe for us to say that Ivie is potty-trained. However, Dale and I haven't been very brave when it comes to leaving her in underwear when we've left the house on "outings". For example, when we've taken her to Carolina games, we've put her in a Pull-Up, just to be safe.

Today, though, we decided it was time to go out on a limb and go to a birthday party Pull-Up-less. If we don't take chances, we won't find out what she's made of, right?!? The party was at a local community park we'd never been to, so we weren't sure if it had a bathroom, but, again, you've got to take chances!

So off we went. When we arrived, I asked Alison (the birthday girl's mom) if they had a bathroom. She said that they did, and pointed it out to me. Although it was behind a locked gate, she had a key. So we were all set. Phew!

About an hour and a half into the party, I asked Dale to check in with Ivie on the need for a potty run. Ivie happened to be playing with Caroline when Dale asked her. Caroline immediately said, "I want to go potty!", so Ivie jumped on the bandwagon and said she did, too. So off Dale headed to get the key from Alison. Everything was falling into place nicely!

Until Dale got through the locked gate successfully, only to find that the INSIDE doors to the bathroom were locked. And required a different key. Which we didn't have.

Great. Now what?

Alison sensed my stress and asked if I had ever had to take Ivie to the bathroom on the side of the road, etc. Nope, hadn't had to do that yet. She then told me how she'd found it to be fairly simple with Caroline, and described the method to me.

So Ivie and I headed off to the small wooded area behind the playground. We went to the backside of a large tree to shield ourselves a bit (more for me than for Ivie, since she couldn't care less at this age!). We assumed the position that Alison had described, and, after only a couple seconds of hesitation, Ivie successfully pottied! Good work, Iv!

So after setting her down and utilizing the wipe I'd snagged from the car, we pulled up her pants and I congratulated her on cooperating so well and going potty in an awkward place and position.

And Ivie turned to me at that moment and said, "Mommy, like a puppy!".

Interesting connection. Yes, Ivie, you did kind of go potty like a dog. But don't get used to it. Humans prefer toilets. In bathrooms.