Dear Emma,

I wanted to thank you for helping keep me grounded on this green earth. Not only did your incident during swim lessons make me realize that maybe I needed to reevaluate what truly matters but your mature voice of reason "Mom, it's going to be ok!" was really what helped me to see the big picture.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Right?!

Whatever am I talking about??

Well, my sweet angel of 3 years did the unthinkable. She had an accident in the pool during swim lessons. Yes, that sort of accident. And yes, to me it was the unthinkable. So you might be asking, "Was she wearing a swim diaper? If not, why NOT?" Well, she has been potty trained for a long time. She had been to swim lessons with no problems for a while. Noone else in the class was wearing one. It just didn't cross my mind..and she literally JUST went to the bathroom right before the class started. I figured we were A-OK!

In her defense, and with a TMI warning, it wasn't like a normal potty where she had to think about and make it happen, I like to think of it more as a 'shart'..just use your imagination. If you still don't get it, just ask or google it, but it may offend you.

OK, so after this happened and the teacher said "Oh no, someone had an accident" and all the kids squealed, my brave and honest girl raised her little hand and said "it was me." Just about made me die, surprised me and made me run fast (to her, not away for the record!) So we scurried off to the restroom and they had to cancel the rest of 3 more classes for the day. I have to add that I am proud of her for owning up, though.

I kept asking her how it happened and apologizing to the parents who were having to leave. Everyone was really nice and said it has happened before..yada yada yada..we get to the car and I am still in shock and that is when she says, "Mom, it's going to be ok!" At first, I think, yeah right, glad this isn't fazing you one bit..then I just had to give in and say, you're right..it will be ok!

Fast forward to our next scheduled lesson..I had been anxious about going. Emma was excited and ready and willing to wear a swim diaper. Good deal! We get there and not a mean stare or word was said. I was relieved that noone pointed and laughed. Cause you know we are the 'poop family' now instead of the 'family with really cute blonde girls'! (that is how I saw it, just being honest (you know Emma taught me that)) The lessons are going on and I hear the teacher saying, "Payton, your turn, Payton, it's your turn baby.." HA, she is talking to Emma and calling her the wrong name..

Now is it horrible that I didn't correct the teacher because she thought the poop kid's name was 'Payton' and not my child? I was ecstatic! This couldn't have worked out better, except Emma didn't know when it was her turn, but that is just a detail. She still got her time.

So at this point I was happy and felt like it was going smooth. Then Emma, I mean Payton, as she had grown custom to doing, yelled at me from the pool while pulling her bathing suit to show me, "Hi, Mom, I didn't poop in the pool!" Snickers and laughter ensued from the sidelines! Nice timing sweetheart! And there you have it!

Bringing me right back to reality! And when some of you (for the few who read this far) say that she will be embarrassed or I shouldn't have written about this incident, I say to you..

"It's going to be ok!"

And that is going to have to be enough! Oh, and no, lemonade is not a good thing to give your children before swimming, not that I know anything about that..