Well my friends, today I am here to tell you the tale of potty training while dining in a fancy restaurant in hopes that you may learn from my mistakes and never have this happen to you.  About a week ago, my friend called and invited our family out for her birthday.  A fancy new restaurant opened and she thought it would be fun to celebrate together, so I marked it on the calendar and went about my day.

Miss Sassy Pants is pretty much potty trained with the exception of nighttime, so dining out is really not a big deal.  Once she wakes up in the morning, we take off the diaper and puts on undies for the rest of the day, minus naps.  Even if we leave the house, she wears her undies and I pack her little potty in the back of the car along with a slew of other potty training must haves.  We’ve dined out many times and have never had an issue.  If she has to use the restroom while we are out, I just run her out to the car and take care of business then go back in and finish doing whatever we were doing.  This is a great routine, unless you forget something.

About an hour before we had to leave I started getting the kiddos ready to go to dinner.  After getting them dressed, I got all of my potty necessities together and organized.  When my husband got home, I had Miss Sassy Pants use her potty, and as I was helping her pull up her pants, my husband suggested using a diaper to ensure we wouldn’t have an accident at the restaurant, which I thought was a great idea. We then grabbed the diaper bag with the kiddo’s stuff and headed out the door, forgetting her portable potty.

Once we arrived at the restaurant, I quickly got set up and began feeding Moose his bottle.  I couldn’t believe how well I had planned everything… it was working out quite nicely.  Everyone ordered dinner while I finished feeding Moose and just as I was setting him down in his chair our meal arrived.  The food was divine, and even Miss Sassy Pants was eating well!

FYI… you should never pat yourself on the back until the job is completed!  The mood of the restaurant was great and the view was impeccable, and since we were celebrating a birthday, we couldn’t pass up dessert.  As everyone was finishing up, Miss Sassy Pants said she had to use the restroom.  As I was getting up to take her out to the car, I realized we had forgotten her potty at home and she had a diaper on (making using a public restroom slightly harder).  Just as panic was starting to set in, my girlfriend jumped up and said she would help me.

As we were finishing up in the restroom, I (being ever so careful) dropped the diaper on the floor.  I quickly went to grab the extra undies out of the diaper bag and realized I had left them on the bed where I had been packing the diaper bag.  Not only did I forget a change of undies, I also forgot to put in an extra diaper. I decided I had nothing to worry about, that I would just have her pull up her pants up with nothing else on and we would quickly finish up and head for home.  After all, we were only going to be another 10-15 minutes!

Just as we were finishing our dessert… IT HAPPENED!  Miss Sassy Pants looked at me in a panic and said she had to use the potty again, but before I could even get up, I heard the sound of a faucet pouring, not in a sink, but on the beautiful restaurant floor followed up with an “ah oh” in her adorable little voice.  I calmly looked over to see a ginormous puddle on the floor and sat frozen for a second.

Luckily, mommy mode kicked in and I quickly tossed Miss Sassy Pants to my husband to take her out to the car and change her, then I loaded up Moose in his car seat, and I waved over the waitress to request items to clean up the mess and disinfect so the staff wouldn’t have to do it.

So here are some suggestions to those in the midst of potty training and would like to dine out:

• Always have two full changes of clothes (including undies and socks)
• Have at least one – two diapers/pull-ups for backup
• The Honest Company Hand Sanitizer Spray, Orange, 2 Oz, Pack of 2
• Disinfecting wipes
• Babyganics Flushable Baby Wipes, Fragrance Free, 60 Count – Packaging May Vary (Pack of 3, 180 Total Wipes)
• Toilet Seat Covers- Disposable XL Potty Seat Covers, Individually Wrapped by Potty Shields – Extra-Large, No Slip (Floral- 20 Pack)

And lastly, stay calm, write the incident in their baby book, don’t forget to laugh, and leave a GENEROUS tip for the waitress whether or not you know them!  To all of you in the trenches of potty training… good luck!

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase anything after clicking on one of these links, it benefits my family. Thank you for your continued support.

Cheers,
Lisa