That is what we were told by one of the super nice employees at the Great Wolf Lodge this past weekend.... and she had only been in the same room with Hailey for about 20 minutes. Her comment was a gigantic understatement.
Let me start with some of the back story details (before I dive in to the crazy things my daughter did this weekend).
Today is Hailey's third birthday. To celebrate, Nathan and I took her up to the Great Wolf Lodge [link] in Traverse City this past weekend. If you haven't been there.....GO! .....Go now.... make your reservations - but ONLY if you have children (or don't mind 5 excited kids to every square foot of space). It was an awesome mini vacation, and an extremely tiring one. We left Friday afternoon and came back Sunday evening.
Before I launch into the stories, let me say that, when vacationing with a 3 year old, it was surprisingly refreshing to stay in a place that was so geared for kids. Not only was the staff profoundly nice and patient, so were the guests... the other parents. Not once did I feel the hot stares of childless people who were wondering why I let my child out of her cage. Everyone had a really good sense of humor...and Hailey made sure she tested her limits.
Let's begin with possibly the best story of the weekend - The McDonald's Bathroom Story.
The drive up to Traverse City, is about four hours from our house, that's a long time for a potty-training toddler to be in the car. So...we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch and a bathroom break. We got a booth near the bathrooms (booths are a necessity to box Hailey in, so we aren't chasing her all over the restaurant). I needed to go to the restroom, and asked Hailey if she wanted to come to (girl's bathrooms rules know no age limit). But she didn't...at least she didn't for the 20 second that it took me to get into a stall. As I was in the restroom, I heard people entering - one of which sounded like Hailey...but another woman was talking, so I thought it might be another little girl. It wasn't. It was Hailey. Apparently, she wanted to join me so she followed a McDonald's employee into the restroom. When I opened the stall, I almost hit her in the head with the door. The employee was trying to stop me saying 'Don't hit the little girl!" I looked down and said "Oh, she's mine" as the woman give me a very odd look - obviously wondering why I let my child sit outside my stall, unattended.
I asked Hailey if she needed to go potty...she said "Yes!" and ducked under the door to the handicapped stall faster than I could reach for her. I turned to the McDonald's worker and asked if anyone was in that stall and she shrugged...so I poked the door with my finger to see if it was locked. The door (with the obviously broken lock) swung open to reveal a young lady (maybe in her twenties) seated on the toilet with my daughter doing her 'booty dance' in front of her (*for a video of the booty dance, click here*). I quickly shut the door and started yelling at Hailey to come out, but she just giggled louder and continued to dance. Not knowing exactly what to do, I turned my head away from the poor girl (who was in a state of public toilet shock) and reached my arm in to try and grab my daughter. So picture in your head... someone who is straining and flailing around to grab something that is just out of their reach and a little girl who is running around the stall, barely dodging my hand. Finally... Hailey retreated to the very back corner of the stall (I never realized before how BIG McDonald's handicapped stalls were) and I literally had to go in and retrieve her. Hailey threw a quick tantrum and I hurried her out of there.
I was so mortified that I couldn't even talk to Nathan - who heard the whole thing, but didn't know what happened. The best part was... that because we were seated right next to the bathrooms, we were right there when the poor girl came out. I apologized profusely, and fortunately, she had a really good sense of humor about it. After I was absolutely sure there was no one in the bathroom, I took Hailey in for a potty break. I must have been a dozen shades of red...I couldn't speak I was so embarrassed.
We hadn't even made it to the hotel yet....
[to be continued]
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