What comes after potty training...

Before I was Mommy, life was simple. I worked on weekdays and relaxed on weekends. Travel involved packing only for myself. I could grab a few things at the grocery store without having to use the giant, nearly-impossible-to-steer green plastic rocket ship cart.

I could make it in and out of a store without a tour of the bathroom facilities.

Potty training was not easy. I started "training" her when I thought it was a good time. She wasn't ready. I obsessed about the minutes since her last accident. I nagged her incessantly, "Don't you want to go pee-pee? I think you should tinkle now. It's been 13 minutes since you pee-peed in your pants... go try again for Mommy..." I nearly drove myself crazy. If she had known how to unlock the doors at the time, I have no doubt my small child would have tried to run away from home. Not a happy fun time.

We gave up on potty training twice. I let it bother me.

Surprise #1:
She did it when she was ready. She did it, not for me, but for many smiling Tinkerbells and Minnie Mouses who lived on her little size 4 underpants. And for the promise of tasty sugary treats.

Surprise #2:
Ya know what comes after potty training? Preschooler obsession with public bathrooms. The undies may stay dry, but it comes at a price. Another sanity-challenging price.

Gone are the days where I can do my grocery shopping alone and without a visit to the restroom down a dingy hallway near the meat counter. Amelia insists on going potty every. single. place. we. go.

I don't recall ever seeing the inside of the Publix bathroom prior to 2011. I had never experienced the loveliness that is a Kroger restroom. Nor had I tested out the potty at Big Lots, Michael's, or Best Buy. Perhaps, I had "used the facilities" at Target prior to Amelia's new found talent... but not every time.

Now? Thanks to my little bathroom connoisseur, there is not a store toilet I have not seen. If you are a mom of a potty-trained preschooler, I suspect you know exactly what I mean.

Moms are so lucky.