When my big sister got married and started having babies, I was just about the happiest aunt there could ever be!  I loved to spoil my nieces and let them eat chocolate cake for breakfast when they stayed with me and break all the rules moms and dads create for their children to live by.

One day my sister asked me to go shopping with her and my two adorable nieces.  At the time Andrea was around 3 years old and Allison was old enough to sit upright in a high chair without towels packed around her but little enough to be scary and incredibly unpredictable.  We let Allison decide when we were all getting hungry due to the fact that she was the most unstable if anything went wrong.  To a baby, an empty stomach ranks very high on the “something is terribly wrong” list and when she cried, everyone knew there was a problem.  My sister decided we should eat at a buffet type restaurant.  She liked those due to the fact that it was easy to find things Allison could eat.  Allison was an adorable baby but she could turn on you in a flash and be screaming bloody murder for no apparent reason.  There were many times I was so glad she wasn’t mine when she was a baby.  I remember several times when I would hand her back to her mother and run!

We ended up having a rather nice lunch experience that day at the buffet restaurant meaning Allison held off screaming until we had all finished our food and it was then that Andrea announced she had to go potty.  Becky glanced my direction and I knew that look on her face.  It was that, “Which one do you want?” look.  I knew taking Andrea to the bathroom would be much easier than trying to calm Allison so they headed to the car and I was on my way to the bathroom with the quiet, well mannered potty trained one that wasn’t crying.  I sort of forgot that Becky put her elbow in Andrea’s bowl of chocolate pudding when she was getting up from the table but it made us laugh and it was no big deal.  Andrea got some on herself too but what harm could a little pudding do?

When Andrea and I got to the bathroom I lined the toilet seat with long strips of toilet paper.  I had gone through my sister’s rigorous training program on how to keep her kids as germ free as possible so I knew I had to do this.  Once it was covered, I picked Andrea up and put her on the seat.  She was quite little so she gripped the toilet with her cute little hands.  What I didn’t know is that her cute little hands were wearing some of that incredibly sticky chocolate pudding.  I think my sister did mention something about making sure to wash Andrea’s hands but I was sure she meant after tinkling.  Before long Andrea was ready to be lifted off the toilet and those long strips of toilet paper came with her.  It was then that I remembered the chocolate pudding  and I was quite impressed at how well it worked to glue the toilet paper to Andrea’s hands.  I gave them a tug and thought I got them all in the toilet and we headed to the sink to wash off the pudding and the tiny bits of toilet paper that came with us when we left the stall.

Finally it was time to head out to the car and for some reason, I was walking ahead of Andrea and what I didn’t know is that one of those longs strips of toilet paper we had used to line the seat had attached itself to my shoe without me realizing it.  Andrea was making an attempt to help me out but she was just far enough back so that every time she reached down to grab that sticky streamer, I would take another step.  Apparently this happened quite a ways back as I began to notice people looking at me.  It was then I glanced back and realized what was going on!  By this time I was right next to the salad bar and all I could think was, “I’ve got to get rid of this!”so I grasped the opportunity and the edge of the salad bar, unloaded my newly acquired shoe attachment and Andrea and I went bursting out the door.

It was much later in the day when I regained my composure.  It wasn’t until then that I was able to tell Becky what all the hysterical laughter was about.  I’m sure everyone has had toilet paper streamers attached to their shoes while traipsing through an incredibly busy restaurant, right?  It’s really not a big deal, really it isn’t….unless of course, it’s happening to you!