How Not To End A Trip To Sesame Place

I’ve Been There

At the end of a long day, I stood in the parking lot at Sesame Place with my younger daughter who was entirely naked and covered in poo. “I’ve been there,” another dad who passed me said. We smiled at each other.

How did I get there? A few days ago, we took a family trip to Sesame Place for the day. We had been once before with my four-year-old daughter but this would be the first time for my 20-month-old daughter. I remember clearly when, on that first visit, my eldest daughter first spotted a Sesame Street character come to life. She froze, eyes wide, accepting that her friends on the television were real and that her dreams were now reality. It seems silly but I got choked up at the beauty of it.

For this trip, we interrupted the usual morning routine of slow movement, and a leisurely breakfast in front of cartoons. Instead, we left early, ate bagels in the car we borrowed, and listened to a personalized CD of Elmo singing songs to my older daughter.

After we had driven a fair portion of the way, we realized that we had forgotten to bring a stroller for our little one’s nap time. At least we had brought snacks, towels, changes of clothing, and bathing suits with built in reusable swim diapers.

After arriving at the park, we first enjoyed the monstrous Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave pool where Ernie’s large face greets all visitors. We rambled in tubes down Big Bird’s River and we rode the Sunny Day Carousel a good number of times. And, then for the next 9 hours we rushed from rides to live shows to eating lunch to more water play areas to eating dinner to more shows to bathroom breaks to one last dip in the wave pool.

For nap, I was forced to drive circles around the parking lot until my younger one fell asleep. She was mostly cooperative and it gave me nearly an hour to recharge and read the news on my phone in the cool climate of the car.

After nap we partook in the Neighborhood Street Party Parade. There is perhaps nothing more exciting than seeing beloved characters come to life. That is why the Parade that travels through the entire park is such a delight. The joy one gets from seeing one’s children screaming out the names of the characters they love, giving the characters high fives, and telling them goodbye is unique.

So, after so much fun and expending so much energy, the plan was to get the kids in the car and let them drift off to sleep as we made our way home to New York. The plan did not factor in poo. It should have. I’ve read the book about everyone doing it.

Remember the built in swim diapers I mentioned? Well, they certainly do their job of absorbing bodily excretions. TOO WELL in fact. So well that we did not realize my younger daughter had pooed until we tried to change her at the car and were greeted with a surprise. But, by then it was too late.

So, there we were at the end of a great day scrambling with wipes and plastic bags in a parking lot trying to block the mess we were dealing with from passersby. But, they all saw it. They had been there too. And, now so have I.