Not so Piccolo

Yesterday, at the wholesale warehouse, I realized that Noah is officially too big for the shopping cart. It says on it 'for children up to 35 pounds or 48 months.' Noah is past both of those markers. I was a little miffed. Although truthfully, I've been ignoring the fact that his legs have become so long that he can barely get into the cart anymore. Because, well, it's just so much more convenient to have him in the shopping cart, and generally, he is willing to be there.

The cart is especially nice at wholesale warehouse, where they have supersize, two-children-seat-carts and he can sit right next to his little brother where I can see both of them.  Containment. Also, shouldn't the wholesale warehouse, of all places, have stronger carts able to seat bigger children? Do they really want him running around trying all the samples?

Noah needed to use the restroom while we were there. Standing at the door, he asked me, "Can I use the Men's? All by myself, Mommy?"

I was totally unprepared for that question. I just stood there blinking. At what age is the right age to use the public restroom alone? As I was trying to process the question, one adult man walked out and two more adult men walked in. We had only been standing there about 10 seconds; 3 adult men seemed like a fair amount of traffic. If needed, I thought, I sure wasn't going to be comfortable poking my head in the door. So I suggested the Women's room, and we compromised with me staying outside of the stall, while Noah locked it from the inside. And he took FOREVER, which made me really glad that he wasn't in the Men's room where I would NOT have been able to confirm his continued existence by watching his feet kick around.

Growth: 1.5 inches in 5 months.

I think maybe 7 is the right age for using a public restroom alone. Or am I being overprotective? And it seems like a different thing to let a girl use a public restroom alone (say she's with her father), then vice-versa. Fritz suggested that I let Noah use the Women's public restroom alone. That might be a good compromise for the next three years. If we need to compromise.

Then again, maybe it would seem strange to me if a 5-6 year boy came wondering into the women's room alone while I was in there. Hmm. Pre-Mommy Me would definitely have raised eyebrows.