The Escapades of Jacob

A couple events that happened within the last day and a half made me realize that I still have a lot of things to work on with Jacob!

Story #1
We went to IKEA last night. One, we wanted a new dresser for the kids (they've managed to step inside their drawers so many times that it's becoming impossible to open them, because the railings are bent and the ball bearings completely gone, and there are no replacement parts that I'm aware of). Two, since we had to stay home sick so much over the last week and a half, we really were taking any excuse available to get out of the house. And IKEA does have a nice play place called Smaland, that Melinda and Jacob have just been aching to play in, ever since Jacob became fully potty trained. (Did I mention that he is essentially past accidents now? HOORAY!)

So, off to IKEA we went. Jacob and Melinda ran into the play place without really listening to the young lady attending, as she gave them instructions about no running, and where the bathroom is. After a few minutes into our shopping, Jesse said, "We really should have made Jacob use the bathroom before letting him play." I agreed with him, despite the fact that we made him use the bathroom right before we left the house. He tends to have to go a lot more in the evenings. Still, I wasn't worried that he'd have an accident. Mostly not worried, at least.

We got back to pick them up around 40 minutes after we left them. As soon as we walked up, the young lady said, sort of mumbling in her not-especially-helpful mannerism, "Jacob took off his pants." I know I looked completely shocked. "WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "I have no idea why he'd do that! He's never just taken off his pants before!!" Melinda saw us waiting there, and we waved her over to get ready to go. Meanwhile the young lady went to the bathroom to get Jacobs pants. .... AND his underwear. When she said he took off his pants, I thought she meant he just stopped in the middle of playing, took off his pants, and continued on. But no. He had gone to the bathroom.

And when Jacob goes to the bathroom, he strips himself completely down, sits on the toilet to pee, and then gets back down. And when we're at home, he'll often streak through the house and take a good long time before he puts his underwear and pants back on. I usually either have to chase him down myself, or nag him a good 10-15 times before he finally stops listens to me. That's when we're at home. I haven't left him alone since he potty trained, and I completely forgot about this when we dropped him off at IKEA. Of course he wasn't about to be ready to put his pants right back on, all by himself, before going back to playing at such a nice shiny new play place. It's even more entertaining than home! Why do there what he's not willing to do at boring ol' home?!

So anyway, Jacob had gone potty, left his pants and underwear in the bathroom, and run back to playing. All right before we came back to pick the kids up. And where was he when we got there? Rolling all around in the ball pit, with his completely naked bum. And when he climbed out, there he was, streaking for anyone who cared to watch through the windows into IKEA's main lobby.

Apparently all those other kids in the play place were just absolutely screaming before we got there, too. I have no idea if they were screaming in amusement or terror or what. All I know is that Jacob put on quite a little show for everyone, and had absolutely no inkling about his little social faux pas. He simply used the bathroom like a good boy, and went right back to playing.

Jesse was absolutely mortified. I was slightly amused, but also embarrassed that I had forgotten about this aspect of potty training for public readiness. And, I suppose, Jesse was definitely right about making him use the potty. Would have avoided that whole mess!

But... yeah. We definitely still need to work on his getting-dressed-after-using-the-potty skills. Nice way to get that reminder, huh??


Story #2
While Melinda was at her little preschool with our church friends this morning, I took the boys to the mall to play, and then over to Trader Joe's to do a little shopping. Jacob loved pushing around his little kid-sized cart and helping with the shopping. We enjoyed some free samples. We picked out our favorite foods. And then we went and bought all our food. Just as we were finishing up putting the food into bags, our cashier started giving Jacob balloons. We got two - one for him, one for Melinda. As soon as he had both in his hands, I went and swiped my card to pay for the groceries, and helped finish up bagging the last few things. As I went back to sign, I looked up and Jacob was gone. GONE. Every direction I turned my head, he was nowhere to be found. I almost had a heart attack, I swear!! I finally spied him through the fully-windowed storefront, at the very end of the sidewalk that runs along the storefronts and parkinglot. Just sauntering away, holding his two balloons, completely oblivious to anything else.

A panicked "Oh crap!!" slipped out of my mouth, and I told the cashier I'd be right back. I ran to the automatic doors, stepped right outside them, and yelled Jacob's name. No response. I yelled again, louder. Still no response. Knowing I just ditched my baby in a grocery cart with complete strangers, I took off running after Jacob anyway. Finally got his attention, and brought him back to the store as quickly as I could. There was Alex waiting for me, happily poking tomatoes. Heart still racing, I signed for the credit card and started - with both boys- back out the doors.

I can only guess that once Jacob had the balloons in his hands, his brain thought "Hey! Shopping's done! Time to go!" and just started walking back out. I'm just relieved a million times over that he didn't wander out into the parking lot. He isn't good at looking for cars, yet, especially not when armed with fun toys like balloons in his hand. And it's a very busy parking lot, too! And nobody took him... that's a good thing. Though I don't know why he was able to walk by three different ladies just standing around without a single one of them trying to help him find his mommy, or at least stop him from walking any further.

When we got to our car, I finally had a good chance to tell him how scared I was when I couldn't find him, and ask him why on earth he left without me and walked all alone out into the parking lot? Where was he going? "I don't know." Why didn't he wait for mommy? "I don't know." Didn't he think that was scary, to be all by himself like that? "No."

Sigh. Obviously, I still need to have some really good safety talks with him, too. Who knew a 3-year-old boy would be so much more work than a 3-year-old girl??