To hear her describe how she found him in the kitchen and began screaming, amazed me to learn how it genuinely surprised the little boy. She said that he just sat there holding the sprayer in the air (still running) and said, "I did it for you Mommy! You always say how you hate to wash the dishes - and now you don't have to!"
As a parent, you know that anything is possible when it comes to your kids. Everyone knows that wonderful feeling of a quiet house when it's met with that horrible realization of the same quietness. You know when it's time to tune into your Batman senses and begin to listen...which usually doesn't bode well.
I thought I would NEVER have a child who would do something like soak an entire kitchen - and I didn't.
I had four.
It began as early as when Lauren was a newborn. I was upstairs feeding her, smiling to myself as all three boys played downstairs quietly. Sure there was an occasional giggle but I couldn't help but pat myself on the proverbial back at having it all figured out. The three boys were downstairs under control and I was with our new baby girl. What could be better?
When I put her in her crib and went down to check on them, my first step onto the floor was met with a my sock becoming soaked with water. It was everywhere. The boys had pushed the water lever from the refrigerator door dispenser until it flooded the whole kitchen. They were stripped down to nothing and sliding across the floor.
When they saw my reaction, it was honestly as though they realized for the first time that they had done something wrong. They were a five, three and one year old at the time - and all three of their little faces pleaded, "Mommy, don't be mad! We wanted to make a waterslide! Try it, it's fun!"
There was also the time I was upstairs and all four were quietly playing downstairs. It always seems that when you least expect it - and think everything's under control - that's when the best of the worst happens.
The four kids found a big bag of flour. They thought it would be fantastic to shake it ALL over the downstairs, making what else?...a winter wonderland. They made snow angels, had snowball fights...on and on. When I tried to clean it, it made it worse. Have you ever added water to flour?
The stories are endless and the memories are as infuriating as they are priceless. From crayons and marker Picasos on the doors and walls, to self made haircuts in the bathroom...I have learned only this...silence is in fact golden...unless you have kids.