Trauma at the Mall

So yesterday the kids and I were in the mall, mommy was returning library books long overdue, and looking in on a few sales. Next to the food court is Egans biggest fear: a huge bathroom full of scary toilets that go off automatically, with chrome walls. Next to them, is a single "family bathroom" with changing tables etc. After playing in the mall's play area for about 20 minutes Egan announces "I need to go potty mommy, can we go to the little potty upstairs?" He must really need to go I thought to myself, so we went up to try it. We went into the family bathroom and discovered the toilet had been changed for an automatic one. Hoping he wouldn't figure it out, I helped him with his pants and stood him in front of it. Evelyn knew exactly what she was doing, and walked over to the toilet before I could stop her and touched the sensor immediately starting the flushing. This toilet was new and had an extreme amount of noise and pressure pulling the water down. My children both screamed so hard and long the emergency light went on and a lady on the intercom asked if there was an emergency. I ignored her of course trying to calm my children and get Egan's pants back on. We were greeted by the mall security and escorted out of the bathrooms when we emerged from the the little room meant to be helpful for parents. I think this puts Egan back a few years with going potty in public places, getting him to go potty anywhere other than home is always a battle. I also think Evelyn has learned her lesson with keeping her hands to herself, she was nearly as scared as he was.

I told my husband what happened at the dinner table later that night, he laughed so hard he nearly fell off his seat. I guess that's all you can do.... laugh.