It was in the early spring of 1988. Blossoms were flowering the trees in our yard in Laurel, Maryland. With spring comes the desire to emerge from a winter hibernation. Household projects get resurrected and the need to go to the hardware store and restock building supplies for the job becomes necessary.
My husband and I had two children, one girl age 12 months and the other a boy of 24 months. This is the time when potty training becomes a focus of parents. Children are outside more and are starting to realize there is a need to do things different than they have in the past.
My husband dealt with a visual impairment, but despite his lack of visual acuity, he was quite adept at completing household projects, with the aid of some special tools to help the blind measure, cut , hammer and build.
This was a particularly pleasant spring morning with the fresh smell of apple blossoms fragrancing the air as we piled in to the car and travelled down Route 1, the main drag in Laurel. After strapping the kids in their car seats, we set out to find one hardware store that would fill all our needs. Shopping with youngsters can be a challenge. Taking two young children who were not content to sit patiently in a basket was a whole new adventure, especially when their blind father had to feel each and every tiny nut, screw and bolt to make sure it will accomplish what he needed. Quite often that left me tired, frustrated and ready to go, long before the children's fascination with the store waned.
Only a few miles from home we struck gold and found a large hardware store with what seemed would meet our every need. Pleased that we found something so close to home, we got out of the car and entered the store.
The children were content to ride in the basket for the first few aisles. They reached their patience level on about row five or six and began standing up, reaching out to which ever parent they presumed would let them down from their rolling prison. After a few more strolls down various aisles, their consistent pleas wore me down and I agreed to let them out and try to watch them carefully.
This sounded like a good plan when I originally formulated it in my mind. It only took about five minutes to realize the folly in my thinking. Their dad required me to locate items and tell him where they were and possibly explain some details his hands were not able to distinguish. Meeting all their needs became more than challenging and after momentarily getting engrossed in helping their dad I turned around to realize they were both gone.
It never ceased to amaze me how fast four little legs could move in such a short period of time. Thus, it took me a few minutes of scanning the aisles to locate them. At the end of aisle seven there was display of commodes. Much to my chagrin, I found my two toddlers, both with their pants down, one on the commode and the other jumping up and down instructing her brother to “hurry and get off”, she also needed to go.
I am not sure I have ever made such a speedy exit from a store in my life. I grabbed them, sheepishly told the store clerk there was a clean up at the end of aisle seven and located my husband. We left the store without a single purchase.
What, at the time, was a horribly embarrassing moment, now brings a chuckle to all as we share potty training nightmares with friends and the guilty culprits.
