When my daughter was six months old, we attended a wedding at a beautiful golf course in Canmore, Alberta. The bride was gorgeous, the groom was handsome, and the setting was stunning. We witnessed a touching ceremony full of laughs and love, and were treated to a delicious meal. On top of cute golf ball favors I received another unexpected gift… a poop explosion!
My husband, daughter and I were seated in the back corner of the reception hall, a much appreciated spot because in the cramped room we had a full corner to set up a blanket and toys. It seemed perfect. Perfect until our girl decided to drop a bomb right before the reception started.
As I was watching her effort-filled expression I was thinking about the inconvenience of having to change another poopy diaper in a bathroom without a change table (She had pooped right before the ceremony too). So I gave her a minute or so to finish her business and then got ready to weave our way through the fully-seated crowd with minutes to spare before the master of ceremonies took the stage.
I picked her up and was met with a horrific situation. There was poop everywhere! It was up her back, on her dress and down her legs; you get the idea. So, of course panic set in. It was going to be difficult enough to get to the bathroom without having to hold her out awkwardly to avoid spreading the poop on her, on me, and gasp… on the guests! But obviously it had to be done; there was no way I was tackling that situation in the reception hall.
I grabbed her and did my best to hold her in a comfortable position. We weaved in and out of the tables like a receiver and a football in the midst of a huge touchdown run. It was intense; I’m not going to lie. I managed to keep a smile on my face and respond with a polite thank you when people stopped us to say, “Man, she sure is cute.” I bit my tongue when I wanted to say, “Do you want to come to the bathroom with us and then we’ll see how cute you think she is.”
After an epic clean up, of which I will spare you the details, I dressed her in her second outfit of the day and we were back to the party. The only people who knew of our crazy adventure were a few at our table. Amazing Mom Action Step: Keep your cool. You can’t control when you child will have an explosive poop, but you can control how you react. Stay calm and deal with it. It’s not the end of the world. No matter how stressed you feel in the moment, you will laugh about it later; trust me.
And always remember to pack extra clothes (for you and your child). Chances are good you’ll need them.
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