Mortified Mommy

We all have those most embarrassing moments when our kids do something that makes us just wish we could disappear. When we embarrass ourselves, its one thing, but we truly have no control over when our little ones might choose to do something mortifying. The only thing we can do is figure out how to react.

My most recent mortifying moment came at a birthday part over the weekend. We were at a four-year-old's party and the girls were both playing nicely and being well behaved. I was sitting within inches of EC who was playing with her BFF who happened to be the birthday girl. I was talking to the birthday girl's grandmother and letting EC give me a checkup with a plastic doctor's kit when it happened. And I wasn't the first to notice. Standing right next to me and totally nonplussed, EC was peeing on the living room rug! The birthday girl's grandmother was kind enough to point this out to me without passing any judgment. I looked over, and as if in slow motion, the realization hit me. My daughter, who'd been potty trained for nearly a year, was peeing on someone else's living room floor in the middle of a birthday party. Aaack!

I quickly grabbed EC to head upstairs and grabbed my husband along the way to clean up the mess left behind. I was hoping to further avoid inconveniencing our hosts having to clean up such a mess. And I was completely dumbfounded. How could this happen?

And then I remembered the last time this had happened was at her own birthday party. Seems that there is just too much fun and excitement for a little thing like bladder control to get in the way of. Why would she leave a roomful of screaming kids to do something as mundane as sit on the potty?

I tried to be cool and calm, but I really was embarrassed. And as I pleaded with EC as to why such a thing had happened, she said, "Mommy, I'm really, really sorry." And that was it. She hadn't meant to do it and I really couldn't be too upset with her - she is only three, after all. I'm sure this is not the last time she'll have an accident. And definitely not the last time she'll embarrass her mother! I'm also sure that in a few years, I'll be a source of embarrassment for her as well.