Soggy Bottom Boy

The other night after picking Colin up from school I was making dinner. A nice pasta with lots of fresh veggies for the whole family.  And as usual, as I try to cook Colin makes sure I get some exercise.  He will play for a moment or two, then crawls off at high speed.  Sometimes he heads into the dining room, sometimes he plays with the shoes by the front door, occasionally he'll make a break for the stairs (AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!), but most often he crawls into the sitting area of the kitchen where I keep the dog's elevated water/food dish.

He discovered this magical stand a few weeks back, and has been fascinated ever since.  The amazing object is perfect.  1. It is just his size, with the bowls just above waist height when he's standing.  2. It functions as an aide to help him stand (and is extremely sturdy).  3. There are two shiny stainless steel bowls to play with. 4. One of the bowls contains water and can be splashed in making a giant mess for mom to clean up.  All of these points are important, but #4 is the key.

Well, this week Colin was making his usual break for the dog's dishes every few minutes.  Each time I would scurry over and grab him just before he hit the "making a giant wet mess" stage.  But I was in the middle of cooking and had reached a point where I needed to be able to focus for a few minutes so in a flash of inspiration I took the dishes out of the stand.  I put the kibble dish (empty) into the dishwasher, and the mostly full water dish on top of the kitchen table.  I figured it was out of reach, and hoped (foolishly) that it might be out of mind as well giving me a little time to finish cooking dinner.

I went back to cooking and let Colin crawl about to his heart's content, secure in the knowledge that the  bowl was safely out of reach.  Moments later I heard  a bit of a clang.  I walked over and saw my son... standing next to the kitchen table with the supposedly out-of-reach water dish in his hand held high overhead.  A look of utter shock on his face.  He was completely soaked and the floor was covered in water.  After a moment the surprise wore off and he began to cry lustily at the horrible turn of events.  (His plan, you see, was to splash around with his hand, not create a chilly deluge.)

Trying very hard not to laugh too much I picked up my soggy son, threw a towel on the floor to begin soaking up some of the mess, turned down the stove so dinner wouldn't burn, and headed upstairs to change poor Colin out of his drenched garb.

That day we both learned important lessons.  Colin discovered some of the amazing properties of water, and I learned that an infant can reach at least six inches farther than you think he can.  I don't know if he levitated, or his arms stretched like Plastic Man. but I certainly won't make that mistake again.