Public Toilets: The Potty Training Foe

My newly potty-trained child has decided that public toilets are her enemy.  We went to an automatic flushing toilet on Sunday morning and I've never seen my child so terrified.  I can't say I blame her.  Have you ever had one of those toilets flush on you mid-business?  I mean, is the sensor just a guise for a sick joke from the toilet gods?  I swear those toilets only flush when they're supposed to 10% of the time.  Most of the time they flush 5 seconds before I'm finished.  Even worse is when I stand there staring at the toilet, waiting for it to flush but end up having to push the button instead.  

Lydia's always had a fear of noises.  When she describes her fears, she talks about fireworks, thunder and, oh, scary toilets*.  So considering this is one of the biggest fears in her life right now, it's hard to figure out what to do about it.  Do I just let her pee in the bushes for the next few years?  Hold it in until she gets home?  Let her pee in the sink?  Believe me, all of those options crossed my mind!

Here's the best answer I found from trawling the internet**.  Post-it notes.  I'm going to be telling Lydia to choose her own post-it notes so that when we encounter the monstrous automatic flushing toilet, we can deactivate the sensor by sticking a post-it note over it.  How brilliant is that?  We'll see how it works.

*They are so scary that even the NY Times wrote an article about them a few years back.

**Yes, I did google, 'What to do when your pre-schooler is scared of automatic-flushing toilets'. 

Lydia-isms!

Lydia said she was going to tell me a story, the 'legend of pink foot'.... I said, 'Do you mean big foot?' She said, 'No, pink foot!' Bahaha. All she could really tell me was that he lived in the woods!


Lydia had DVD boxes on her arms yesterday and was calling them shields. Today, she had another box on her arm so I asked her, 'What's that?' Lydia replied, 'A box'.


Baa baa black sheep have you any wool, yes sir yes sir three bags full. One for the monster, one for the (indecipherable word) one for the little girl who (more indecipherable words).

The Legend of Pinkfoot

I didn't realise I'd have to apologise to my daughter the other night.  She told me she had a story to tell me, the legend of Pinkfoot.  She told me Pinkfoot lived in the woods and it was spooky!  I can tell you now, I spent a good five minutes telling her it was Bigfoot and how he looked somewhat like a gorilla (and he wasn't scary at all)!  I asked her who told her about Bigfoot as I was rather perturbed that someone would be so irresponsible as to scare my child with a chimera-type urban legend.  Lydia told me it was Daisy from the Bubble Guppies.  This sparked me into action as I thoroughly researched (aka 'googled') this outrageous Bubble Guppy who would be so bold as to scare pre-schoolers to death.  I found a rather cute video of, yes, the infamous (at least amongst pre-schoolers) Bubble Guppies sitting around a campfire, toasting smores, telling a spooky story about the legend of PINKfoot.  I then spent another five minutes trying to convince Lydia that she had been right after all, except every time I said, 'You were right, it was Pinkfoot'  she would look at me thoughtfully and say, 'No, BIGfoot'.  Sigh.

Here's Lydia with her first somewhat successful attempt at using chopsticks.  She was at a disadvantage as she was trying to pick up noodles.  HA!  If I had been more thoughtful, I would've made something she could just stab and pop in her mouth! 


Lydia and I stayed at home on President's day.  It was a much-needed day after working all weekend, especially as I had about five loads of laundry!  I also really wanted to spend the day with Lydia.  We painted, pedaled around the neighborhood, talked about how we live on Earth and how Mercury is far too hot (she's been talking about planets lately, can't you tell?).  Then I spent the afternoon trying to get her to take a nap.  


I turned on the telly expecting her to be completely bored and to fall asleep except she was as riveted by Hoarders: Buried Alive as I was!  I found myself completely fascinated with these people whose houses are full from floor to ceiling with stuff.  Then I looked around my own house; the dining room table has been in the living room for a month, the floors in the dining room are *almost* finished, and there are toys everywhere!  We've got to get this house in order!