Was it Lord of the Flies? Or some ancient, pagan ritual?
My wife called me at about 4:00 this afternoon so that I could speak with our 22-month old son who had just woke from his nap. A nice conversation of "agh-blag-aw-all" and "blag-oo-cawan" ensued until he passed the phone back to Paula. She cheerily said goodbye--and I turned my focus back to my work.
Twenty-five seconds later, she calls back. She is exceedingly distressed--angry, sad, hurt, overwhelmed, and broken. I can't quite fathom how such a change could come over her so quickly, but then she explained.
Our four oldest kids, Madison (7), Marshall (5), Halle (3), and Emma (3) were playing in Madison's room for the last hour. When Paula opened the door to check on them, she stepped directly into a nude water park. With Madison's mattress as "the slide" the naked siblings were taking turns running and sliding along the mattress which was on the floor. Water was everywhere, as they were using it for lubrication and speed.
When Paula walked in on this anarchy, Madison decided it would be a good time to hand over the bucket of pee the four of them had been collecting all afternoon. Apparently the bedroom water park was such fun that to leave the room--even for an instant--was too much to ask, and so they used a community receptacle. When they saw Paula's shock and awe, Madison made it very clear that no pee was on the floor or on the mattress.
