bath tub bubbles

I am trying to discover the proper way to blog about something Bennett did today, but as you will read, it involves a subject which requires discretion. So, let's see how I do.

I have been quite tired lately from a very busy week without adequate sleep, so today after my run, both Bennett and I needed a bath. To conserve time and energy, I decided to bathe with him. Our bath was quite enjoyable as he was showing me his nose, then my nose, his ears, then my ears, his eyes, then my eyes....you get the picture. It was time to wash and rinse my hair, so to do that, I let him sit on my belly because we have a very deep bath tub, and I feel safer when he sits up out of the water while I recline. As I finished rinsing my hair out, Bennett makes a "bubble" in the bathwater...while sitting on me, which was alarming since I wasn't exactly sure what would follow....get my drift? (If you don't understand what kind of bath bubble I am referring to, think Eddie Murphy in the hot tub scene in the film, "Trading Places". ) Anyway, my response to his bubble startled me, then made me giggle. I said, halfway jokingly (thinking a toddler cannot control this natural function), "Bennett, don't do that on Mommy." Well, he just thought that was hysterical. I mean, he truly belly laughed, and then he proved my "he-can't-control-it-theory" wrong by trying to do it again. Seriously. He started straining, his face turning shades of pink. And he succeeded. So, I reprimanded him again, but I at this point am finding it impossible not to laugh because he is laughing so hysterically. Then, he did it again. All I could think of was my mother-in-law's advice when we were first married: "Never laugh at a child for doing something while they are little that you will have to discipline them for later." I believe in manners, after all, and I work hard--sometimes to no avail--to make sure all THREE of my boys use them. (By the way, Paul thinks this story is hilarious.....) I kept thinking to myself, "What kind of example are you setting for Bennett?" Anyway, I decided to end this game, even though I hated to put an end to the infectious and abundant laughter, so I got out of the bath tub with Bennett in tow. I put him down on the tile floor, turned to walk in the closet to grab a sweater to put on when I see that he is squatting on the floor, laughing, straining--still trying to do a you-know-what and get a response from his mother. I had to quickly diaper him since it appeared I could not prevent him from straining and producing something that I would not want to be cleaning off the floor.

I am amazed at God's creation of boys. While most girls think (or should think) that doing such a thing is impolite, boys inherently think it is hilarious. I think they are born that way because I haven't seen what Bennett did today modeled for him so that he would imitate it. I can say that because I have spent the last nine years teaching these kinds of manners to Paul and Anderson. I haven't totally eradicated their lack of restraint or the laughter that sometimes follows. But, thankfully, I have at least tamed them enough that I can take them out in public.