With the summer story time session over, we found that we had a little extra time on our hands for a few weeks. I wanted to try something new, something different, so we found a little place in Ann Arbor called the Hands On Museum. We coordinated with our friends Kelly and Evelyn and made plans to go. Kelly wanted to go early because it’s about an hour away. “Is it too crazy to leave by 8:15 or 8:30am?” she asked. Yes. Yes it is a little crazy, but we were up for the challenge.
We ended up leaving at 8:45 which wasn’t bad considering what goes into getting a toddler fed and dressed in the morning, not to mention myself. I had to make lunch for us too. And there was a Dunkin’Donuts stop, too. (Mmmm Donuts…) So, not bad considering it was such a lofty goal to begin with. At least it was for me.
This museum was actually pretty cool and they had a whole section for children four and under. Ellie and Evelyn loved it! From giant foam blocks, to fake fire trucks, to a water table, they had so much fun. While Evelyn traveled the room, Ellie just liked sitting in the fire truck. It’s usually Evelyn who tends to be more stationary. We could have stayed in that one area for the whole time we were there, but we decided to venture out.
After lunch, we found a giant room filled with these foam blocks. Ellie and Evelyn started helping another kid build a wall. They were handing her the blocks while she stacked them. And after a little while Kelly said she smelled something and was going to go change Evelyn’s diaper. I caught a whiff too and figured it was Evelyn because Ellie doesn’t poop out in public. At least not yet. But after they left, the smell still lingered. Could it be? Ellie!? Did you poop too? And sure enough she had. You could see the fumes coming off of her like Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown gang. Alright stinky, let’s figure out how we are going to handle this.
I was not prepared to change a whopper today. I’ve never had to change a poop diaper in a public restroom before. Using cloth diapers makes diaper changes in public a little different than disposables. (Or sposies as I’ve heard them called) At home, after I change her, I dump the offending debris in the toilet and put the diaper in the diaper sack. But how do you do that in a public restroom? I didn’t want her walking around in the men’s room. That’s sick.  I don’t like walking into a men’s room. But I couldn’t leave her lying on the baby station because, well…shouldn’t do that. Whatever I did, I needed to be quick.
I pulled her diaper off, set it aside and put a clean one on. She just laid there smiling feeling good about herself. “I like my friend, she’s so fun I pooped!” I held her soiled diaper in one hand and looked around the room. The toilets were way on the other side of the room. But the trash can was right next to me. And without thinking I quickly dumped her prize into the trash can. As I did this, it occurred to me that maybe this was a bad idea. I just dumped a fresh turd in a public trash can. You’re not supposed to do that, right? It’s probably not that big of a deal, but it felt really wrong. Not being able to take back what I did, I quickly packed everything up and left.
It’s good that she’s comfortable being out, and being with her friends now. But her poop anxiety totally used to work in my favor. I guess not anymore though. Poop.
Aw, man…I can’t believe you dumped her turd in the trash can! I feel bad for whoever walked in there after you guys! Talk about WRETCHED.
And I know the boy’s room smell like, well, the “boy’s room,” but still…