Parenting #fail turned win? (Zoo Visit)

If you are my friend on Facebook or even a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed I’m fairly peppy.  Sometimes I feel like I’m not keeping it real, because I so often share the good and not the bad.  So, when I had a huge parenting fail recently, I knew I had to share.

For my birthday, my family (Mom, Dad, Hubby, Bryson, & Bella) all went to the zoo.  It’s about an hour and a half away, so when we arrived, I knew I should go change Bella’s diaper.  I started digging through my diaper bag and I see plenty of size 5 diapers for Bryson, but ZERO diapers for Bella.  Oh my.  Could I have seriously left the house without a single diaper for my three month old?

Yep, totally.  I instantly become frustrated and mad at myself.  How could I have done that?  Then, I decide to just let it go.  She isn’t THAT wet yet and I’ll make do when it comes time.  I decide that I’ll either roll one of Bryson’s diapers down and make it fit OR I’ll put my pride aside and ask a complete stranger for a diaper.  Asking a stranger is totally out of character for me, by the way.

We walk around the zoo and the entire time, I’m glancing around for a small baby around Bella’s size.  About 2 hours in, I still hadn’t spotted a tiny baby and thankfully, Bella hadn’t pooped either.  We stopped at the zoo café for a break and to get a bite to eat.  Again, we discuss what to do and again, I say that I’ll ask a stranger if I must, but that I haven’t saw a small baby yet.

Out of no where, my hubby says “There’s your baby!”  I’m like “What?” and he points to a woman with a stroller and a very tiny infant.  I watch her walk across the café and sit down, alone, at a table.  She looks quite approachable, so I throw my pride to side and go ask this complete stranger if she’ll give me a diaper.

The first words I said were “Mam, you are going to think I’m crazy, but…” then I explained what I had done.  I asked her for a diaper and offered her money.  She wouldn’t take my money, but she did give me a diaper, plus 3 extra.  Her baby was 5 weeks old and she’d decided to get out of the house for some exercise.  I’m glad she did!  She was an angel and I’m sure she has no idea how appreciative I am.

I learned something about myself through this fail though.  When it comes to my kids, I’ll do anything.  I have terrible anxiety y’all.  When I say that, I mean that I have been diagnosed and I break out in a sweat just thinking about talking to people I don’t know, taking phone calls, etc.  So, for me to walk up to a woman I had never met before and actually ask her for something- well, that was HUGE. 

When I walked back over to the table my family was sitting at, I felt proud of myself.  Not for forgetting diapers for my three month old, but for pushing my anxiety to the side and doing what I had to do to make sure my daughter had a dry bottom.  My family was actually talking about this exact thing when I got back to our table.  I think they were more surprised at what I’d just done than I was…

I guess my parenting fail turned into a win in one way or another.  It felt good to make myself do something so out of my comfort zone.  I hope forgetting diapers at home doesn’t become a regular occurrence though.  Once was enough for me!