Bathing beauties

Mr W had a loooong day today.  Whilst I was here at home reminding Ryan, as he stood in front of the fridge, to "get out of my way or you are not going to eat," he was busy doing some overtime in anticipation of our upcoming trip.  He's been very chatty for a busy man, and called me several times today, with the last call being "I'm gonna be later than I thought."  "No problem," I tell him.  Why on earth did I walk past the large bottle of tequila I saw earlier at Costco?  Again?  Oh, yeah.  The kids were with me, so I would have had to explain the straw, and they are still impressionable...keep walking. 

Before I knew it, it was late, nearly 8.  Our evening routine shot.  We still hadn't officially eaten dinner yet, but as they put down a ton of food earlier, I was surprised they were interested in anything at all.   Kids and their bottomless pit stomachs!  I still needed to bathe Audrey, who was just a mess, and Ryan, who was just a stinky boy.

We're in the middle of it all when Max appears at my side.  He jumps up and hangs his little paws over the side of the bathtub, very excited and wagging his tail.  He's sniffing away at the water, and when we do nothing, he gets agitated and barks at us.  "Mommy, I think Max wants to take a bath,"  Ryan says.  "Yeah, he probably does,"  I tell him, "because this is where he takes his bath, and labs like water, so he thinks it's his turn."  He is indeed fascinated by water, that pup, he has to put both his paws in the water dish outside before he drinks.  Flavoring, perhaps? 

I wrap things up with the kids, and then, hmm.  Should I do it? Aw, why not?

I place Max into the tub with them, much to their delight.  Of course, I took them out immediately and had Ben's help to dress them, but they thought it was cool that the pup was in there, if only for a moment.  I drained the tub and proceeded to bathe the wonderpup, who was looking quite relaxed and sat patiently while I cleaned him.  Oh, please let him love the bath forever, I think to myself, because if he doesn't, it's going to suck having a white dog.  He truly had an enjoyable time, and now looks like a white puff walking around. 

After that, I was busy doing something (okay, I was finally getting the favored sheets back on the beds) and Audrey  wouldn't stay in her room, so I asked Ben to go lay with her, and he did.  And she stayed.  When I finished and went to check on them, she was OUT.  I grinned at Ben and praised him for a job well done.

I dig it when they help me out with her.   Earlier in the night, it was Nolan getting her into a new PullUp, while receiving a lecture from her about how "it's not a diaper, I a big girl, it's a PullUp."  Ryan rescues her regularly when she gets stuck on my bed.  And when she gets in trouble, she asks for them, like they will intervene and obtain a reprieve from the mean Mommy.  "I want my Ben/Nolan/Ryan," she'll wail, reaching for the object of her affection with open arms.  And if mean Mommy allows, they catch her up in their arms, and hold her.  The look on their faces is priceless.

I hope that it's always going to be like that, that she's going to reach for her brothers when the mean Mommy is not available.  I hope they always reach for each other, period.  It's sweet. 

And when she's a teenager, it'll be an effective way for her to sift out the bad guys when she starts dating, to have 3 opinions on whether or not Timmy is such a good idea.

If she starts dating, I should say.  With 3 big brothers and a cop Dad, she'll be lucky if she gets to leave the house alone with a boy before she turns 21.