I have to share…

I had to mention this because we are moms. I mean I’m sure we aren’t all moms… but we are all parents, or could be, or will be. Or friends to those that are. Or whatever. We all need some damn privacy, regardless!

So, when I read THIS blog post the other day, I literally LOL’d. It actually made me think of a comment my husband made to me the other day (sorry to unleash your secrets, hunnie), “I peed sitting.”

I turned my head, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry?”

It went like this: Addie didn’t want to be alone, and she looked like she was moving towards the toilet. He tried to stop her and move her back towards the sink, but she didn’t want that. When he tried to leave her in her room, she screamed. He didn’t want to disturb my nap (YAY, A NAP!), so he brought her back in the bathroom… afraid that any other way would leave her scarred, splashed or otherwise compromise his parenthood, he sat.

Between the blog and Dave, all I can think is this is a phase. Most of the time Addie likes to brush her teeth while I take a moment to myself (heaven forbid she not be with me in the bathroom- although she plays alone when I’m folding laundry), but there are times she wants to be held. “UPPAH!” she shouts as I deftly pee and jump up as quick as possible. I really try to remember this is all a phase, like the one where I would nurse her, while I was peeing because she was attached to me and she would pull off and cry (perhaps my milk would let down when I FINALLY peed) and I would be there, also crying, “I’m so sorry baby, mommy just needed to pee,” while my bathroom window was curtained, but wide open. My poor neighbors.

I know times will change. In 17 years I will be alone again… except Dave will burst in needing to brush his dentures or quickly shave his sideburns. “You don’t mind, do you? The door wasn’t totally shut.”

Until my family bathroom time is up, there will be games and rewards for bathroom behavior. Tears shed over the one time I locked the door. Makeup applied in the mirror I so carefully clean each morning and more toothpaste spread across my sink than my pittance of a blogger salary can afford. I will cherish these times, for each thing is but a phase and each phase will have an end. The day will not come any different, or announce its change. It will just be. The end will come and I won’t ever know that it is.

I will miss the tiny fingers reaching under the door, the challenge of buttoning my jeans with one hand and the mechanics of opening mascara with my teeth. I know I will miss these things, even when I say I hate them because I always say it with a smile. Here’s to the phases, the beginnings and the endings, everything in between… and the alone time we so wish for.