The Bucket in the Sink

 

"Why is there a bucket in the sink?" My husband asked. More specifically, he meant: why is there a pink, children's 'play' mop bucket in the sink!?

"Because we have a wild 2 1/2 year old daughter" was my reply.

The story is this:

I'm sitting in the garage one warm fall day, carving a pumpkin for Halloween.  It was a Sunday. Our house was full of people. Family and friends watching football, laughing and eating. 

My daughter walks into the garage and hands me her little pink bucket. It's a "mop bucket" that goes with the little play cleaning cart that she had received for Christmas the year before. It was full of liquid. 

Assuming she had climbed onto the sink and filled it with water, I asked, "What's in here honey?"

"It's pee Mom!" She replied excitedly.

Deeeeeep breath. 

"It's what!? Where did it come from!?" I asked.

"It's pee! I peed in it in the back toy room, Mom!" was her reply.

The back toy room that's two steps away from the bathroom. 

Oh. My. Word.

Deep breath. Deep breath. 1.2.3. Remember... She's only 2 1/2. A toddler. This is what toddlers do. Well, most toddlers, not all. Wild flowers. 

My precious little treasure. 

So I gave the boring lecture to her. Explained the right way to do things, this was not appropriate. You know the drill.

Then I walked away to get the bleach. And as I walked away I was smiling. Laughing inside. Because that's really all you can do in a situation like this. Take a deep breath, and laugh. And realize, in the big scheme of things, this is small, it will be one of many. And, sadly and oddly enough, I will miss this one day.