Water Infatuation

 
Water balloons, water guns, cups of water. Oh, yes, my two-year-old has discovered the beauty of water as a new toy!

From the kitchen sink to the bathroom sink, he has learned to fill up balloons, water guns and anything else that will hold water. And, he's also learned how he can spark up mommy by just filling up one small balloon with water and running through the house. "No! Do NOT get water on the couch!"

With that oh-so-naughty giggle, he'll run around, water balloon clutched tightly, to see how far (and fast) I will chase him for that darn balloon!

It doesn't stop with the water balloon. Quickly after I confiscate it, he decides that a water gun is the next thing he can use to get my attention. He fills it up without my knowledge, and approaches me with that naughty grin, pulling the trigger. Right in the face!

"Stop getting water everywhere!" Was that supposed to stop him? He laughed loud. This game was really fun!

I can just imagine what is going through his head...Haha! I really have her going now. What else can I put water in?

And, of course, water gun confiscated, he finds (do I hear the water running again?) his favorite cup. "Watch this!" he calls out as he tosses the cup in the air, water flying everywhere.

With a deep breath and a reminder to self: he's just exploring life (as well as trying to get my attention), I grab the little rugrat and tickle torture him until he can't breathe. "Stop getting water everywhere!" I tell him.

Through laughter and giggles, he looks at me and threatens," I gonna get water on you!"

I tickle him more.

"I'm gonna spray you!"

More tickles.

"Okay, I done with water," he tells me, in an effort to get me to stop the tickling.

Running off, he comes up with the master plan!

Do I hear water running again?

"I gonna spray you!" he calls out, the super mega squirt gun sprayer in hand (the one I forgot about hidden in the boy's room). And, just as I realize that he's filled it all by himself, and try to tell him to stop, he shoots me in the face!

"No more water in the house!" I yell, but he's laughing.

"I got you!" he says, and the smile on his face, mixed with the excitement of his new-founded "toy" (water) makes me laugh, too.

We're on day number 5 of the water infatuation, and I'm glad that my area rugs are currently getting cleaned at the carpet place, because nothing is stopping him from indulging in his new infatuation! I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Aren't children wonderful?

Shipping Him Off

With six children, five of them boys, it's not unusual to hear bickering, yelling, even screaming at times. Ear plugs have become my best friend and I have learned to ignore certain parts of arguments until I have to intervene because it has escalated so much. On a daily basis, situations are constantly occurring that I get pulled in to referee.

Take today, for example. I was enjoying the beautiful sunny, Spring-is-here! day, and listening to the sounds of the birds with the door wide open while typing away on the computer as the kids played outside, working out all that kid energy that I always say I wish I had. Things were going splendidly, and the baby was quietly napping. Of course, it didn't take long before one of the kids came running to tell me that another had thrown the Frisbee on top of the house.

"Wait until Dad gets home. I'm not climbing on the roof to get it," was my resolution, and they went back to play, grumbling that they didn't have anything to do if they could not use the Frisbee.

The next few minutes continued without issues. And then I heard the shrill but muffled screams of my two-year-old. Something was definitely wrong. I sent my oldest to assess the situation, but according to the noises I was hearing, he was moving too slow so I ran past him to peer out the back door. At first I didn't see my two-year-old. As a matter of fact, I didn't see him at all...but I could hear the muffled squealing.

The five year old was frantically trying to unzip a suitcase outside while my two year old screamed from inside the confines of the big black suitcase. My seven year old was running in the other direction for some unknown reason. What in the world was going on?

It just so happened that my children had decided to ship their little brother off for every time he had harassed them and messed up their rooms. This incident occurred quite a while ago and I am now almost over the horrified feeling that I had while the whole scenario was playing out.

I could not for the life of me understand why my children would do that to their little brother and I let them know that over and over again, but now that time has passed, circumstances that my two year old creates provoke me to look back with a bit of a smile and completely understand why they felt like shipping him off!