3 year old mischief..."in the bathroom"

No, this is not our super slick and shiny clean bathroom floor. This is standing water. Water that my 3 year old decided would be fun to dump outside of the bathtub one recent evening while I was putting Cooper down in his crib.

Lesson learned: Just because the 3 year old behaves most nights during bathtime doesn't mean he can't turn around and flood the bathroom the next night by submerging his clothes and towels in the water and chunking them at the walls and floor. Also, please note for future reference that there are creative ways of getting water outside the bathtub wall without making a lot of splashing noises for mothers' ears to hear. You may think he's contentedly playing with his boats and sponge letters, but in reality please know that he is up to no good.

After walking in to the flooded bathroom to see my son sitting in the floor playing in the standing water and a big grin on his proud little face, I quietly and quite firmly said --with a look to kill I am sure--, "Son, you'd better get back in that bathtub right now and not make a move until I return." With a stern look on my face I left (to hide the laughter and to call my husband...and to make Parker sweat out the absence of my presence) and returned to a wailing 3 yr old who wanted to know what was going to happen to him. As soon as he saw me, Parker wailed, 

"Mmmmmommmmmm! --{insert exaggerated short and quick sucked in breaths and gasps}- Am I going to --gasp gasp-- jaaiiilllll?! {insert another extremely loud and pitiful wail}

I literally had to pinch myself from busting out in laughter. With as straight of a face as I could muster, I replied, "Well, I don't know Parker. What do you think? Silence for a second. Boys who do naughty things go to jail. Maybe a night in the slammer would do you some good."

"NOOOooooooooo Mom! I don't --gasp gasp-- want to go to jail!!!!"

To make a very long story (and night) short, it was not long after that I looked around the room and realized how big of a mess it actually was (water all over the bathroom mirror, changing table--I actually had to take EVERYTHING out of each of the dripping wet baskets--toilet, walls...what had he been doing in here?! There truly wasn't an area untouched.)

I looked down at him again and this is what I saw.
Warning: Do not be fooled by the pitiful looking angelic face that is shown below. There was (I'm sure) a mischievious little plan already brewing inside his mind as this picture was being taken.

My heart did go out for him...a little. After a long talk about being naughty and not dumping water outside of the bathtub ever again, the discussion ended with lots of hugs and reassurance that he was not actually going to jail...or getting thrown away. (At one point during our little talk, I explained to him that because he had dumped water on everything in the bathroom, certain things were going to have to be thrown away since they were ruined. Parker misunderstood me and thought I said that I was going to have to throw him away. My heart tore in two when I realized why he was so upset at that point. Poor baby.) 
Though he knew he was in deep trouble and had his "bathtime play" privileges taken away for a night or two, he went to bed with a smile on his face. He knew his mama still loved him even though he had been a little troublemaker that night. I love that he knows that.

....

Fact: It actually took all but 4 clean towels in our house to wipe up the mess in the bathroom.
Fact: My bathroom floors finally got cleaned and are shinier than ever...Note: do not thank Parker for that...he is to never find that out!
Fact: No matter how exasperating some evenings get with him and his little self full of constant creative energy, I love him so much I could just burst.

What's been on your bathroom floor lately?

;)