Idle hands....and unsupervision....

Yesterday morning began as most mornings do in our household now. Tony is up and out the door by about 6:30 to get ready for the u-pickers at the farm. Shortly after, a small little girl* crawled into bed with me for snuggles while her slightly bigger brother* continued sleeping away upstairs. Said little girl was in a mischievous mood yesterday...which should have been my FIRST clue...but this mama has been pretty tired lately and wasn't thinking too clear. I soon felt little fingers on my toes along with hearing the ditty "this little piggy went to the market...." followed by giggles and "was that funny, mama? Was it?" Assuring her that it was, she quickly hopped down with the ominous words, "I'm gonna go find something else to do!"

Now, most days that would've immediately triggered red flags. But...did I mention that I've been pretty tired lately? And was up for a few hours during the night when that same little darling crawled into bed with us earlier?

When her now-awake brother and I finally ventured down stairs about 30 minutes later (yes, 30 minutes of unsupervision for my little princess), I found she had nearly emptied the brand new liquid soap that smells really pretty in the kitchen. On the floor. The counter. In several of her toy cups. The lid of another container. The sink. (of course, she didn't wash the dirty dishes that were also in the sink...okay, she's only 3! I'll give her another year!) Thankfully, it was only soap. It washed up quickly.

Then my husband called to ask me to check the weather on the computer. I headed back upstairs to our slow dial up computer to check on the weather. And heard two sets of little giggles. "Get out of the bathroom!" No response, just more giggles. "Come up here right now!" No response, just more giggles. And the sound of water. "TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!!!" No response, just more giggles. And more water sounds. I head downstairs. To a VERY wet bathroom. Wet clean clothes. Soaking wet children. A feminine little voice saying "I love you, Mama! And Luke got me all wet!" A deeper but still childish masculine voice saying, "Hi, Mama! How are you?" I didn't answer.

Several different things occured yesterday to the point where my son finally looked at me and said, "Mama, I REALLY need to pray and ask Jesus to forgive me for all these sins I keep doing today!"

Last night I had a Watkins party. It went great! And much faster than usual. I was home earlier than my hubby and kids (although, come to think of it, they should've been home getting ready for bed by the time I got home!). I walked in and smelled a distinct chemical odor in the air. Nail polish remover? What??? Why would I smell nail polish rem.....I headed downstairs. To the bathroom. And to our beautiful beige marbled sink and counter top...now streaked with metallic purple nail polish (which originally had been two shelves up and, I thought, out of reach of little hands). All over. And the kids' stool. The wood on the bathroom cabinet. Sighing, I drew some bath water while getting out more nail polish remover. Quickly cleaned up the mess I saw, then crawled into the bathtub to the nasty smell of fumes.

Shortly after, the front door opened, cheerful little voices heading downstairs. "Hi Mama!" And not too long after, a much deeper voice saying "Susanna, we need to go talk with Mama." The door bursts open and a little girl flies in repeating over and over how much she loves me. She almost falls into the bathtub several times as she's slathering kisses over any part of me she can find. "Susanna, what do you need to tell Mama?" "Mama, look at my pretty fingers! Oh, Mama, I um, I love you! And I spilled some of the poiple stuff all over, so I'm sorry, please forgive me, I love you so much, Mama!" Luke then had to come in and show me HIS pretty purple fingers that Susanna colored for him. Sigh.

We need a lock on that bathroom door.


*Names not given to protect the not so innocent (some of the time)