Bangs McCoy

I want to go to the bathroom (!)

July 15th, 2007

I was sitting with Rees and Jamie in the foyer at church today, when Rees suddenly announced, “I want to go to the bathroom.” Wow, okay. So we got up and went to the nearest ladies’ room, which has just one (handicapped accessible) stall. One of our service missionary sisters, an older lady, followed us in and waited. I was feeling some pressure. I had no idea what was going to happen here.

Rees acted like this was no big deal, something he does all the time. Actually, he has never used a public toilet before. He also rarely tells us before he needs to go. First he tried to lift the seat up, since he has to lift the lid at home (no lid on this toilet). When it fell back down, it made a nice loud noise. He lifted and dropped the seat a few more times before I got him to stop. Next, he took down his own pants and undies (pull-up diaper), which I noted were dry. This was pretty impressive, since he had been wearing them for a few hours (all through nursery). He started to take off his shoes, but I convinced him to keep all his clothes on. I helped him sit on the seat and he balanced just fine with his hands. He didn’t seem nervous or upset at all. Within a few seconds, he started to pee. We were pretty excited. “I did it Mommy! I did it!” We were only in the stall for a few minutes. He tried to exit by climbing under the side of the stall, but I explained that the stall door was the preferred exit.

The missionary was very kindly waiting for us. She smiled at me knowingly and went in the stall while we washed our hands. While we were drying our hands, we had this exchange:

Rees: What’s that noise, Mommy?
Me: The nice missionary lady is using the toilet now.
Rees: (crouches down to look under the side wall of the stall)
Me: Don’t look please. She wants to be alone while she uses the toilet.
Sister Missionary: (laughing from inside the stall)
Rees: Mommy, I want to look!
Me: No buddy. Let’s go. Think about what sticker you want when we get home.

I love that kid.

Later at home, I noticed that Jamie has a new tooth poking through. This is his third tooth, and the first on top (middle left). I took the picture below, where you can clearly see the two bottom teeth, but not really the new one.

More pictures of Jamie here.

Entry Filed under: I do stuff, I go to church, I have kids