Accident
About two years ago- right after Ziva was born- I was at the hardware store buying a shelf to put in the new baby's room.
I had all five kids with me, as they were all too young to leave home by themselves.
Anthony said he needed to go potty, and he was right at the age where he was still a little young to go by himself, but at the same time a little too old for me to be bringing him in to the women's restroom with me. Jethro was not with us to take him, so I asked Tony if he felt comfortable going potty by himself. The five-year-old eagerly shook his head "yes".
"Just walk right to the back of the store, Tony," I said, pointing straight back. We had been to this particular Home Depot several times, so I assumed he had a general idea where it was.
I watched him walk off, then turned my attention back to the row of shelving units I was looking at. I picked out the one I needed and set it in the cart next to Timmy and Ziva, but did not walk away from where I was standing. I wanted Tony to be able to find me easily when he walked out of the restroom.
Several minutes passed, and I was still standing in the shelving aisle when I saw two employees rushing to the back of the store with a mop and cleaning supplies.
I ignored it, until Kate reminded me that Tony had been gone for an awfully long time.
I decided that maybe I should go back and knock on the restroom door to see if Tony was okay. If I had to, I could send a male employee in to help him.
I had just about reached the back of the store when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw some commotion a few aisles over near the bath department.
I stopped in my tracks when I saw Tony standing between two employees. He was wearing nothing from his waist down. One employee was trying to pull my son's underwear and pants back up. Another employee was kneeling down next to him, a hand on Tony's shoulder, appearing to be talking to him kindly.
For a moment, I wasn't sure if I should run, or face the fact that my son had just used a model toilet in a hardware store for his personal use.
I grabbed Kate and Abby by the hand and pushed the cart carrying Timmy, Ziva, and the shelf towards Tony, his mess, and the employees.
"Mommy!" Tony exclaimed, frantically running towards me, his pants still half sagging around his knees.
Yep, that was me...proud mom.
One of the employees approached me as I bent down to finish buttoning Tony's pants.
"Ma'am," he said, "Your son just...uh..." He trailed off, gesturing towards the display of toilets.
"I can see that," I said. I quickly apologized. I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to get the hell out of that hardware store, but I offered to help clean up the mess anyway.
The employee thanked me, but declined my offer, and told me the cleaning crew had handled it.
Thank God.
While we were waiting in the checkout line, I explained to Tony what he did wrong, because clearly all he thought he'd done was go potty by himself like a big boy.
There was no way I could punish him, but I decided that from now on, I would walk him to the door of the bathroom and wait just outside.
Plus, Kate still teases him about his little accident to this day, and that's punishment enough.
