The Joys of Motherhood

A 3-year-old Tells All From his "Mother's Restroom Stall" By Shannon Popkin


My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window.
People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked. There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the second to the last stall: 'Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you onna go stinkies on the potty?'

At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity. Cade continued: 'Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!'

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a screaming new born when you need her? Good grief.

This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, 'Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some!'

'No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh Mommy!' He started to gag at this point.
'Uh - oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!' As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: OK There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

'Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies! Get up! Get up!' He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.

'Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at? Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?'

More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation.

'Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.' He started pounding on the door. 'Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!'

I saw that my wait'em out plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy? But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

(Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives with her family in Grand Rapids , Michigan , where she no longer uses public restrooms.)

How true is this?

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the drive before it has stopped snowing."

Prov. 28:20 "A faithful man shall abound with blessings..."

Psalm 101:6

Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

I just love it when you are going through a time of doubt or questioning or just reminiscing of the past and God does something small to remind you that He is in charge. It's like He just looked down at me and said, "I know it was hard to follow Me down this path but I'm so glad you did and here's an extra blessing for you." I'm so glad for those reminders and blessings. We serve a wonderful God!

Wordless Wednesday

Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Each day, I receive a scripture verse on my igoogle page. I love to read and ponder the verse of the day. Today's verse is one of my favorite verses so I thought I'd share it with you.

It reminds me that it's ok to be different- not emo different or worldly different but different from the rest of the world. What does this mean to me? I can go without listening to the world's standard of good music, I can pray in a restaurant and not feel awkward, I can dress modest at a soccer game or Disney World, I can limit the amount and type of tv or movies that my children watch. I can speak differently than the world, I can open up my Bible and read while watching my girls practice their gymnastics. I can sing hymns and praises to my Lord and not worry about how bad I sing because I am doing it for His glory.

This verse reminds me that I need to renew myself in the Lord daily. I need to study God's Word, pray and seek Him more and more each day so I can be a changed (transformed) person. All so I can have my greatest desire... to continually be in the perfect will of God.How do you know what the will of God is for your life? All of the answers are in one great Book. People question...How will I know? How do I know which path to take to stay in God's will? The answer is found in that Book. Keep the lines of communication open by praying and reading His Word and through the Word, He will lead you and keep you in His will.

Happy Resurrection Day

I have been so busy lately doing the things that need to get done that I have neglected other things. One of those things being Easter. I didn't get the girls dresses this year, new shoes or even an Easter basket of goodies. I'll be the first to admit that I am not super mom and just can't do it all on my own. Thankfully I have one terrific husband!

He went out and bought the girls things to go in the baskets that I already had in the attic. Those goodies included 2 wii games, steering wheel to go with one game, 3 movies and a bag of Starburst jelly beans each. They were so happy to get what they did and I made sure that Daddy got all of the credit for what they got.

As far as the dresses goes, they had plenty of springy dresses to chose from- ones they had not worn before- and wore sandals from last year. This is the first year that I know of that the girls have not worn matching dresses.

I am amazed at the fact that my girls have so much yet are not spoiled. They do not ask for much and are not too disappointed when they are told no, they can't have that right now. We have a couple of really great girls.

Last night, Rebecca and I came home while Jay and Em ran out to get dinner after church. Rebecca wrote Jay the sweetest Thank you card and gave him money to tithe on the stuff she and Emily received as Easter gifts.

I really do have a great family! I am blessed beyond measure!

Enjoying the beautiful spring day

The girls spent as much time outdoors on Thurs. and Friday while the weather was nice and warm. I don't have any photos from Thurs. but with all these from Friday, do you really need to see more? haha

While Rebecca and her friend were at soccer camp for the morning, I took Emily to an elementary school down the road to play.

After I picked the girls up and took the puppy out for a potty break, we grabbed a pizza and headed to another park.

Christine, Rebecca and Emily

I...can't...do...it...

relaxing after a hard day of playing and posing for pictures

Isn't it great when little girls aren't too busy to stop and smell the flowers?

You can go to the blog archive on the right and look at pictures taken last year at the same park. The dates for those are March 28th and April 25th, 2008. I love looking at the changes in the girls from last year to now. My, they are growing up way too fast!

Busch Gardens

It was absolutely beautiful on Thursday and Friday. Saturday turned out to be very cloudy with a little bit of rain and very cold. We had planned on going to Busch Gardens for the day, had a puppy sitter and all so we did not back down.

Here's the view of the sky from my driveway.

It rained a little bit on the way there but that was ok-- we were just in the car. After a lunch at our favorite barbecue spot, we went over to B.G.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg's new thing for this year is a kiddo spot with the Sesame Street theme. Not a biggie on Rebecca's list.

Seeing the Clydesdales always makes you smile.

Rebecca refused to be in the picture with anything associating to Sesame Street.

She did go on this one ride with Emily but it was "boring". They are in the second seat and Rebecca didn't even crack a smile.

We have had seasons passes since Emily was 1 year old. It's been so neat to see her graduate from the baby rides to the kiddie rides, and now the big kid rides. Poor Rebecca didn't grow enough over the past winter to be bumped up to the next section and be able to ride more rides. Next time, she will wear her tennis shoes with thicker soles. She was less than a half an inch away though.

This ride here has been called, "the ride we like but Emily can't ride". Now we can call it by it's name. Tradewind. Emily was able to ride it and it's now her favorite ride, other than the Big Bad Wolf, of course.

on the Flying Machine

Here's another one that Em can now do by herself.

She loved being able to do the bumper cars without an adult!

She's coming after me...

One of the many wildlife that live at the park.

Abbey Stone Theater

My favorite show Emerald Beat is shown here.

It's river dance and I love it. It's nice to watch it season after season and see mostly the same people each year.

It really was cold and Emily said her face was numb. Nevertheless, I was shocked at the amount of people there. Emily left crying because she didn't get to ride 3 of the rides she wanted to due to the cold wind and long lines. She was so looking forward to riding the Big Bad Wolf, swings without an adult and the Lochness Monster. There's always next time...

The sky on the way home.

It cleared up but only got colder as the evening wore on. With Easter Sunday being the next day, it was wise of us to leave (hitting Chick-fil-a on the way home) before closing.

Spring Flowers at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

One of my favorite things to do at B.G. is look at all the beautiful landscaping that they have.

Hope you enjoy looking at the flowers as much as I do!

*Tulips are my favorite flower other than hibiscus. Busch Gardens always does a great job with their gardens, hence the name Busch Gardens.

"Busch Gardens has been voted the world's Most Beautiful Theme Park for eighteen consecutive years and ranked first among the world's Favorite Theme Parks for the fourth year in a row by the National Amusement Park Historical Association.[1] The park traditionally receives high accolades in the international Golden Ticket Award, hosted by Amusement Today. In 2006, the park placed in Best Food, Best Shows and Cleanest Park. It took the top place in the category Best Landscaping.[2] Busch Gardens has over several years received recognition from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), most prominently taking the Applause Award for "management, operations and creative accomplishments that have inspired the industry with foresight, originality and sound business development" in November of 2002. Busch Gardens Williamsburg was voted as the "World's Best Theme Park" in both the 2006 and 2007 Theme Park Insider Awards. The ride Curse of DarKastle won the 2005 Theme Park Insider Award for "World's Best New Theme Park Attraction."

taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busch_Gardens_Williamsburg