Chuck-E Cheese & Road Trippin' with a Newly Potty Trained Diva

Little One was just toilet trained over the Holidays. I know the road to being completely toilet trained is sometimes a long one.  Accidents happen.  I get that.  She hasn't had any accidents lately, but I secretly dreaded our 11+ hour drive. It wasn't so much the drive that had me worried (because we're used to taking lengthy road trips), but it was the having to stop at every other gas station or restaurant so she could use the toilet that stressed me out.

She's a fantastic traveler.  She happily sits in her car seat and "reads" books, sings, tells us stories, plays with her toys, eats her snacks, sleeps, and now watches DVDs.  That's an entire blog post on its own though. I've been boycotting getting a DVD player for the car because we don't like Little One watching too much TV.  I caved on the holidays and got her one. More on that later.

Since we live on an island (far, far, far away from all our loved ones and relatives), we always have to make the long drives to see everyone. This time, we accompanied Grampy to Toronto to pick up Lola ("Grandma" in Tagalog/Filipino) at the airport. Toronto is only a 6 hour drive.

 

 LOLA! I missed you!  (Lola has been in the Philippines with Great-Grandma for a month)

We also decided to visit Little One's 4 year old cousin and twincess cousins since Little One doesn't get to see  her cousins often.  Any chance I get get Little One a visit with her cousins, I'll take it. I grew up with my cousins, so having all of the kids living so far apart makes me really sad.

While visiting Little One's cousins, we took the kids to Chuck-E Cheese for the twincesses' 3rd birthday. It was an early/family celebration since we were in town.  Little One and I had never been to Chuck-E Cheese before and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

 

 

It started off really well. Little One was excited to be going to Chuck-E Cheese for the first time! She was a bit apprehensive and thought it was "too noisy".

 

 

She had fun, but I think it was a bit of sensory overload for her.  Then all hell broke loose.

Chuck-E Cheese entered the room.

Little One was terrified.  She backed herself into the corner of the booth we were sitting in. She looked like a trapped animal. It was so sad (okay, and a little funny - sadistic adults). Chuck-E Cheese left the room and then returned with a pail of tickets to throw around for the kids. When he returned, Little One freaked! She flew from her side of the booth, under the table and across to me.  It was the craziest thing I  had ever seen! She kept saying, "I want to go home now!"

Wow. She thought he was cute when she saw his pictures, but the man-sized mouse really scared her.  Her cousins, on the other hand, were hugging him!  I guess Disney World is going to have to wait for another couple of years.

 Three sleeping princesses - All tuckered out!

Our 11 hour drive home turned out to be a 13 hour drive because of the inclement weather.  Snowy, slushy roads, reduced visibility, black ice...you name it, we had it.  That, coupled with a wee one who has just learned how to use the toilet, made for an adventurous drive.  I put a pull-up on Little One "just in case". I knew we'd be in between gas stations for a huge stretch of the drive. She refuses to use the potty and wants the toilet. She refuses to soil her pull-ups too.

At one point, she got carsick. After changing her clothes, cleaning her and the back of the van, I gave her Gravol and that knocked her out. Poor thing.  She did tell me, "Mommy, you saved me!"

Then she had to poop! We were nowhere near a rest station and she wouldn't go on the side of the road (it was also too dangerous to stop with the reduced visibility). Even with telling her she could poop in her pull-up if she had to, she wouldn't. She also said, "It's not good for me! Owwwweeeeeee! It's hurtin'!"

When we finally stopped, she was relieved. She said, "Mommy! You saved my life!"

Things I've learned on this trip:
1. I'm thankful I don't have to change any poopy diapers anymore!
2. Trips take a lot longer when you've got a child out of diapers/pull-ups.
3. Always carry Children's Gravol when road tripping!
4. Chuck-E Cheese is a fun place, but can be scary and overwhelming for some kids!