The Lake Effect Shower

The after effects of a lake effect shower

I know that it was my thirty-first birthday when I first encountered the danger of leaving one child unsupervised in the bathroom. It wasn't because of all the normal reasons that experts tell you not to leave a child alone in the bathroom (drowning, razors, medicine cabinets, etc.) - it was because it was dangerous to let your child be unsupervised for any length of time when she is two and can reach the baby powder.

I know that it was my 31st birthday, because I shared it with my grandma and we had to travel that day to visit her in the nursing home. I was feeding baby brother at the same time that my older child thought it would be a grand idea to shake the baby powder all over the bathroom. 

Brother was only 4 days shy of being six months old and sister (culprit) was a mere 2 1/2 as of Christmas day. But boy did she make a ginormous mess. Now in typical 2 1/2 year old fashion, she was quiet - which any non-exhausted, experienced mom will tell you is generally not an indication of the child finding his/her way to a peaceful slumber, but rather a way of finding his/her way to creating a mess. In fact it was such a layer of baby powder snow that I was able to capture a perfect footprint picture to forever commemerate my 31st birthday.

Fast forward five and a half years and the messes get bigger. Tonight, I was clearing the table, conversing with my husband, and I hear the high pitched silly laughter that only my children can produce when they are having oodles of fun. Noticing that it was 7:30 PM, rounding on 8 PM, I rushed to tell them that they needed to get their pajamas on, but in my bathroom - where they both were standing in the shower - the floor was a lake. 

My generally calm disposition went right out the window and I did not do as I did with the baby powder snow and join in - but I did throw some towels at them and told them to clean it up. They didn't get it cleaned up on the first try - so we had some repeated attempts at drying the floor. 

Now not only will I have the baby powder snow of January 6th, 2013 cemented to memory, but I will also have the Lake Effect Shower of August 27th, 2018 fresh in my mind - and I hope my kids will remember that it is a lot of fun to make the mess, but mom will make you clean it up.