Public potties eat people...maybe.

In the last couple of weeks we have experienced some setbacks with the potty... specifically related to the public potty. It all started a few weeks ago at the Greek Festival. We had just sat down to eat when Josiah told me he needed to go potty. I took him into one of the port-a-potties and stood him up to lower his pants. He leaned over and looked down into the looming abyss that is the port-a-potty and suddenly said, "No! no!" in a very high pitched, insistent voice while simultaneously grabbing his pants so I couldn't pull them down. I knew what he was thinking. We exited the port-a-potty and went back to the table. A few minutes later he told me he needed to poo-poo. I took him back and made him sit on the potty despite his previous protest. He didn't really protest, as I sufficiently distracted him and tried to make him comfortable by singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" a couple of times. He peed, but refused to comply with his original requested needs. We exited again. A few minutes later he said he needed to poo-poo again. I hung my head, as my food had yet to really be eaten. This time Paw Paw took a try at it, and he was successful. I knew Josiah was fighting the battle of needing to go but not wanting to let loose in the port-a-potty. Let's be honest. Who DOES want to do that? He isn't too young to know you must be absolutely desperate to utilize the port-a-potty in such a manner.

Last week Josiah told me he needed to go potty while out. I took him to a public restroom with automatic flush. Unfortunately Josiah is so light that it confuses the potty. It began flushing continuously, and Josiah looked up at me with ultimate terror. He scrambled up into my arms and absolutely refused to use the bathroom. I didn't make him. We put his clothes back on and headed home instead.

After these two events Josiah was convinced he was correct in his hesitation toward using a potty outside of the home. We went to lunch with friends last week and took his potty seat with us. Even though we had his potty seat, he was too intimidated by the public potty. He needed to poo-poo and told me a couple of times. I took him to the bathroom each time, but each time he would sit on the potty and then declare, "nope!" Before we left he said, "Poo-poo...uh oh." This sentence, short and to the point...is one I hate to hear. Sure enough, Josiah had pooped in his underwear and knew it. He usually hates that feeling, but I guess he was weighing his options and felt it was the better choice. I cleaned him up and wrapped up his dirty underwear (and discovered I should carry a ziplock in his bookbag for situations such as these). I told my girlfriend how he had recently developed this anxiety related to public potties and knew it was the reason he made such a choice.

Our history left us with quite a predicament this morning when we found ourselves at the store with him requesting to poo-poo. I took him in and breathed a sigh of relief to see it was a manual flush potty. Who would ever guess one would hope for such things? I sat him down and he peed, but once again refused to poop. I knew he needed to go and really didn't want to play clean up today. I turned around and sat on the potty and pulled him into my lap to put his pants back on, defeated. Like most brilliant parenting solutions...I accidentally stumbled across one. A light bulb went off in my head and I slid back on the potty and put him in between my legs. I held him there securely and gave him a sweet embrace to show him he was save while talking to him about using the potty. He immediately dropped the huge load he had been holding back. Brilliant! I congratulated him on overcoming his fears and silently celebrated this victory for my future as a member of the public with a two year old in tow.

Now I just have to hope the same tactic works next time.