THAT Mom on the Plane...

My most embarrassing THAT Mom experience was on a flight from Missouri to Phoenix last summer. My daughter was only 8 months and my son was 3 and a half.  Shortly after we left Missouri, our flight was placed into a 2-hour holding pattern due to bad weather and turbulence.  Things were surprisingly calm and relaxed in my row.  My daughter was happy, we had the Wiggles on DVD to keep my son content, and my husband and I were thinking we had the best kids ever!  But then it happened...

My son was potty trained at the time (so no pull-up on) and he desperately needed to go to the bathroom.  The seat belt sign had been on for over an hour while we flew through turbulence, and the crew kept reminding people to stay in their seats.  I could tell my son was trying very hard to hold on but I could also tell that he was not going to last much longer.  At this point, I am thinking, "Maybe potty training him was a mistake."  Diapers are a great thing, and he wouldn't have had to handle too much ridicule had we waited until he was a teenager to potty train him...right?

So, screw the seatbelt sign...I got up and hurried to the back of the plane.  Right when I reached the back, 2 people went into both lavatories.  Damn, damn, damn!    There was an empty seat by the last bathroom so I stood my son up on it, begging him to hold it.  As the lavatory door opened, I hurried in, only to find out it was too late and he had wet his pants.  He was so upset. I was frustrated at the situation and I am sure everyone on the plane heard it.  I tried my hardest to get him cleaned up through his constant crying about his wet clothes.  As I left the lavatory, I looked down at the seat he had been standing in and saw a HUGE puddle of pee in the seat- CRAP!  The young man's face in the seat next to the "pee seat" was disgusted and, well, pissed (no pun intended).  I was speechless for a minute - slack-jawed and just staring at the young man. 

After the shock of what happened set in, I managed to apologize, and apologize, and apologize.  I then asked the flight attendant to help me clean it up (what an angel) before I finally headed back to our seat (crying son in tow).  I sat down, fished out my son's change of clothes, and put the wet, pee-drenched garments in a Ziploc bag.  I calmed him down, got him into the dry clothing, and proceeded to tell my husband about what had just happened.  Damn...that just sucked!  I can now look back on it and laugh, but at the time, I was THAT Mom... on the plane!