“Don’t laugh,” she said. “Someday it’ll be you.”
Wise words from my mother. Wise words that went in one ear and out the other by me.
I had just gotten done telling her a story that I found hilarious. It was from earlier that day when my friend had to abruptly end our phone call because her toddler son was busy throwing all of his toy cars in the toilet. For my mother, this brought back all too vivid memories from my rambunctious youth. For me, this brought great entertainment.
But now? Now I get it. I shouldn’t have laughed, because that someday that my mother referenced? That someday was this morning.
I started my day in a good place. My son had slept through the night and I was able to get up before he did to get a yoga sesh in. I stepped out of the shower afterwards and started to get dressed. Then I heard it.
Clunk.
I whipped my head around. The sound was coming from the hallway bathroom. I sprinted, half dressed with a towel wrapped around my head, towards the noise. NOTHING could have prepared me for what I saw when I got to the bathroom.
My son, having climbed out of his crib, was taking everything out of the bathroom drawers and throwing them into the toilet. And not just that, but also attempting to flush them. Anything that he could get his little chubby hands on was a victim – washcloths, bars of soap, a shampoo bottle, hundreds of cotton balls and cotton swabs. Not only was the bowl filled to the brim, but the water was all over the floor and still coming.
I had no words. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t react. I had no clue what to do. After a few seconds (or minutes, I honestly am not sure), I scooped up the baby, googled how to turn off the toilet flush, and shut the door. This just couldn’t be dealt with right now.
Upon getting to work and securing a plumber to come to the house that evening, I set my sights on making sure this never happened again. First purchase? Jool Baby Multi-Use Strap Locks. That toilet seat would never again be opened by the resident toddler until potty training time (that thought reminded me that potty training was just around the corner, so I added a training potty seat while I was at it too). After adding those to the cart, I came across the Sliding Cabinet Locks. Yup, those were being added too. What did he need to be in the cabinet for anyway? Then, for good measure, I added the Door Knob Covers. I wasn’t messing around. The peace that I felt internally after my morning yoga had gone down the tubes (no pun intended) after this incident. I wasn’t about to deal with that again.
As I was about to punch in my credit card number to complete my purchase, I had a momentary freakout. What about the master bathroom?! What if he made his way in there and did the same thing? I couldn’t just add extra door knob covers because my bathroom had a lever handle. I went back to the main page, did a quick search and found the perfect item to complete my bathroom child safety mission, a Door Lever Lock. This way he wouldn’t even be able to move the lever enough to open it. Brilliant!
I am happy to report that the toilet is now back in working order (after a costly visit from Mr. Plumber), and my newly purchased door lock, potty seat, door knob covers and child safety locks have already been shipped by Jool Baby. In no time at all I will be enjoying yoga again, with even more peace of mind thanks to my new best friend, Jool Baby Products.