In June 1998, my hubby and I, with MIL, son (6 - turned 7 there) and daughter (3) went to Ireland. My daughter was still in Pull-ups and as the date to ship out grew closer, we got a bit more nervous. I REALLY didn't want to lug Pull-ups over seas...
So we lied to our daughter. *gasp* *inhale all oxygen from room*. Yeah right! You guys have never lied to your kids??! We're the ones who taught our kids that "Other" kids believed in Santa Claus. We didn't lie on a regular basis anyway... unless it's really funny.... but I digress....
The lie was that the flight attendants wouldn't let her get on the airplane unless she was potty trained. There... Is that a huge lie? I mean, for crying out loud, she was THREE! If we waited any longer for her to be potty trained, it would be by intimidation from the other kids in preschool... or her future husband... We needed her to have some inspiration so she wouldn't settle on diapers the rest of her life!
On the flight over, we stopped in the Dublin airport before our final destination of Shannon and several people disembarked. The attendants counted everyone and the count was wrong. dang... that meant that too many people got off. This was WAY before 9/11, but the cautionary measures of the time were followed. They counted and counted and counted and we sat on the tarmac for an extra 3 hours while they counted heads. My DD did very well during this time. We weren't even supposed to use the restrooms... So she did great for a 3 year old.
On the flight back now... that was a different story. Some mixup with the layover in New York and we had to wait for customs. We weren't allowed to go past the rope gate and use the restrooms on the other side. We could see the bathrooms... we just couldn't use them... By this time, Maddy was frantic and really had to go. Before we had gotten on this flight, I had her wear a pull-up just in case. I tried to reassure her that she was wearing a pull up so she could go in her pants if she really needed to, but she was sobbing because she HAD to use the toilet.
I guess we trained her TOO well.
My MIL flagged down one of the flight attendants who had just gotten off the plane, pulling her cute little suitcase. MIL asked her where there was a restroom that her grand-daughter could use. The flight attendant pretty much blew her off and said she didn't know and didn't even break her stride in walking. My MIL was livid and said the first F-word she could think of. I was SHOCKED! She had never spoken like that before. I was a bit impressed, but when she didn't calm down, I lost the impressed part and just took matters into my own hands.
Carrying Maddy, I just walked over to the guard by the "rope" gate and said that my daughter was going to wet their floor if we couldn't use that bathroom over there, not 30 feet away.
Okey dokey then!!! He held the gate open for us and we strolled in. It was on the outside of the customs line but he didn't want to wield a mop apparently...
2 comments:
Perhaps there is something with the name - Maddy? Either do it 100% right or not at all? One way or the other, no in-between? At least that is usually how things are with my Maddy. LOL.
Oh - and I will never forget the first time I heard my own mother utter the "F" word. I think I literally fell off the chair I was sitting on.
lol. There are times I think I named my girls right and other times when I think we could've switched the names around. Maddy and Meri. With my Maddy, you're right. She's a perfectionist. 100% or nothing...
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