I grew up in a house that only had one bathroom. I never knew what it was like to have two bathrooms until many years after I moved out. In fact, I never felt like I had to fight for the bathroom. My dad and brother may remember differently.
Up until about a couple of years ago, we always were blessed enough to rent houses that had two bathrooms. Our current house only has one. We don’t mind that it only has one bathroom for several reasons. We have great landlords, good location and a good house.
Recently, we have made a wish list of things that we would like when we start looking to buy a house. Two bathrooms has officially made it on to the list. The main reason for this addition to the list is…Kiera.
During school last year, she came home and told us about the new bathroom policy in the Pre-K classroom. Apparently, knocking on the door was not always beneficial in finding out if the class bathroom was occupied. Because of this, her teacher made a stop and go sign for the door. One side was red, which obviously meant the bathroom was occupied; the other side was green, which meant it was open.First, before I go into details, I want all you parents to be honest with yourself. I know that I am not the only parent that goes into the bathroom, sits down and stays for a few minutes just to take a break. All right. Now that you have all had a moment to agree, let’s continue.
A couple of months ago, I had walked in the bathroom and closed the door. I sat down, briefly registering the quiet and then suddenly…WHAM! The bathroom door flies open and smacks the sink behind it. Kiera comes dancing in the bathroom. I don’t mean that she is dancing to music; I mean she is doing the “pee-pee” dance.
She looks at me as if surprised to find me in the bathroom. “Mommy! I really, really, really have to go potty!” she says as she continues to bounce around.
Before I can reply, she sighs and says, “You know what we need to do?” Of course, she didn’t really expect me to answer because she continued on, “We should make a sign for the door! Like a red and green sign! That way when it is on red, we know that someone is in the bathroom, but if it is on green, then we know we can come in!”
My face had to reflect the amazement I felt at her idea. I wanted to ask her exactly what the closed door meant in her mind. She danced out of the bathroom before I could reply with my sarcastic response.
Several mornings ago, I was up and in the shower. I am usually the first one up during the week. Aaron will tell you it is because I take the longest to get ready. But, let’s not talk about that. I was in the shower and enjoying the hot water as I reached for the shampoo.
The next thing I know, the entire room is pitch black. When I say pitch black, I mean, I literally cannot see my hand in front of my face. My first thought was “did I pay the electric bill?” My second thought was “how on earth am I going to step out of the shower without slipping and falling?”
I stood there trying to come up with a plan. I was pretty sure if I yelled for Aaron, he would not be extremely happy with being woken up by his yelling wife. Just as I had decided to chance it, I heard a tiny, sleepy voice, “Mommy, I had to turn out the light so I can go potty.”
Ahh, that explained it. My little angel had made her way into the bathroom. She turns into a vampire when she first wakes up. I have to slowly introduce light to her when we wake her up.
I patiently stood under the running water, hoping that she would remember to turn the light back on when she left.
“Can I flush?” she asked sleepily.
“No!” I quickly responded. “I mean, no, baby. It’s ok. Mommy will flush when I get out.”
Suddenly, the light was flipped back on and Kiera glided back into the dark hallway and to her room. I rushed through the rest of my shower, trying to make up for the time that I had stood in the dark.
Having two bathrooms will definitely be at the top of our house-hunting list. I can only imagine that it will get worse as she gets older. In the meantime, I may be busting out the arts and crafts to make a stop and go sign.
Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery. She is a mother of a five-year-old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane and psychotic cat, Gracie. Both females. She is married to her prince, who is outnumbered by the opposite gender.
