The more things change...

... the more they stay the same.

Technology may be advancing faster than we can fathom, but a child's ability to embarrass his/her parents has found a way to keep pace.

Friday evening, while shopping with the kids at Sam's Club, I had to go to the bathroom. AJ was sitting in the back half of the cart, happily playing games on my iPhone, so I left him there while I took Sydney with me into the bathroom.

We emerged a couple minutes later and found AJ still in the cart, still playing games. He said, "your friend called, but I told her you were in the bathroom."

What? How does AJ know how to answer an iPhone? Especially when the incoming call interrupts his game?

I took the phone from AJ and checked the list of recent calls. Sure enough, there was my friend Crystal's name and number. I called her back.

Thankfully, Crystal has young boys. And a good sense of humor. She answered the phone laughing. "Did you flush?"

According to her, AJ didn't even wait for her to ask if I was there. He simply answered the phone, "Hi. My mom's in the bathroom."

I use my phone a lot for work, and exclusively for my freelance writing. As embarrassing as this was, it could have been much, much worse.