Some more parenting firsts

Cale had Monday off so we set off in search of some family fun. We spent a good part of the day at COSI in Columbus. Haven had a wonderful time running around, exploring different displays and splashing around at the water table. The museum has a huge area for toddlers to play. There are several different play areas including a doctor's office and ambulance, a "park" that has slides, bridges, ramps and tunnels, little houses to "build" and "paint", huge blocks to build with and a water area. She loved it all and pitched a fit when we made her leave the water area because she was literally soaking wet!

Haven also loved playing in the little houses and would go in and paint and then wash her hands. We had a little incident though- her first bully! She had been coming and going between the two different houses and while she'd been gone a brother and a sister had taken over one of them. And by taken over, I mean that they were blocking the doorway with their bodies, pushing Haven when she tried to get by and yelling, "No! No!" in her face. Since this was my first situation with kids being directly mean to my child, I didn't know what to do. I know what I wanted to do, but that wasn't really appropriate. Their mother was not in sight. And this didn't just happen once. Haven tried to go back in there a few different times over the course of at least ten minutes and their mom did not appear. When they started shoving her it was time to go. Haven wasn't nearly as upset by this as we were. She just kept trying to get past them and do her own thing. She didn't push back or yell at them, she just wanted to play. While it made me mad to see other kids treating my daughter this way, it was interesting to watch her respond to them.

After we left the museum we drove around for a bit so Haven could get a nap in. We were staying in the area so we could have dinner with friends so a nap was necessary. Once she woke up, we headed to Easton for a bit of shopping. We had a nice dinner and were able to catch up with some of Cale's old friends. Twice while in the restaurant Haven had to go to the bathroom. After these two potty trips, we felt pretty confident that she would be okay for the car ride home. We said our goodbyes and then walked out of the restaurant into a snowstorm with horrible visibility. We knew it was going to be a long ride home.

Within ten minutes of being in the car Haven started asking to use the potty. We had just gotten on the highway and Cale was maybe going 20 mph becasue he couldn't see anything. Stopping at that point was really not an option. She kept fussing though so we knew something had to be done. I decided to reach into the back of the car and try to put a diaper on her while we were moving. Unfortunately, I was a bit late. While I was getting all the necessary items out of her bag, she kept saying, "Havetogopotty. Havetogopotty." And then she started saying it while also grunting. I'm pretty sure you can guess what happened without me going into the gory details! Let's just say that then my task evolved into removing her underwear with a surprise inside and then putting a diaper on her for the remainder of the trip. While she was strapped into her carseat and it's snowing so hard and Cale can't see to keep us on the road. Lovely. Once we got that situation taken care of she entertained herself for a bit before falling asleep. A trip that usually takes us a little over an hour turned into a 2 and a half hour drive home. It was not fun, but we made it safely home.


Despite our "incidents" it was a good day together as family, and as I think about, a good analogy of what life is really like. People can be mean and annoying and life is messy at times, but at the end of the day what really matters is who's by your side.