Boys Will Be Boys…

On Monday, mere moments before Gabe was heading out to soccer practice, he and Max decided to play in the mud puddles in our backyard.  Unfortunately, I was on the phone with insurance handling the pre-payment for Jack’s birth and could only watch as it all unfolded.  Once I finally hung up, I instructed Gabe to get Max and carry him over to the door.  From there, Gabe has step by step instructions on how to remove his shoes and head to the nearest bathroom.  And I did the same for Max and placed him straight in the bathtub.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of Gabe, because time didn’t allow it before practice, but let me assure you that it took 2 rags worth of scrubbing on just his legs, 4 different rounds of soap on his arms and hands and a new pair of soccer socks before he headed to soccer.  AND he did go to practice with plenty of mud all over the remainder of his clothes that didn’t have time to be changed.

Max just stood in the bathtub the whole time saying “Mommy, water on, Mommy water on!”– and repeating it louder and louder until I followed his instructions.  But again, Gabe was the priority, so by the time I was able to strip Max down and turn his bath water on, the people in the next county were surely hearing his demands.

And when all was said and done and the child was finally clean, Max looked at me VERY PROUDLY and said “I make mess!”

Why yes child, that you did!

But here is the best part:

About an hour later, when Chad got home, I told Max to tell Daddy what he did.  Max said, “I make mess” with a grin and walked off.  So then I explained the mud fiasco to Chad and he looked at me and said, “That’s bad right?” And I nodded.  Then he asked if Gabe got in trouble and I said, “Yes, Gabe got ‘the look’ “.  So then he asked if Max got in a trouble and I said, “Yes, he got the look and was carried like a sack of potatoes to the bath.”  And Chad nodded and walked away.

And it dawned on me, Chad saw NO problem with the boys playing in the mud- and without ruffling my feathers, was making sure I didn’t scare them out of doing it again… and I’m pretty sure that Chad hopes he’s here for the next round of mud pies so he can join in!

So, boys will be boys, and I’m out-numbered, so it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win the playing in the mud battle…. and the more I think about it, the more obvious it is that that is NOT a battle worth fighting.  Bring on the mud boys…. just keep the worms outside!