(Mason's mom, Nana, sent this to me and it was so funny that I had to share it just exactly as she had written it - Lael)
We are very blessed to live in the same town as our granddaughter. We are also blessed that we get to keep her often and she loves coming to our house to stay with Nana and Papa. And she is blessed to have a Mother and Father who absolutely adore her and are raising her to love, laugh, and create. She is a true wonder and as her mother always says, “She is so Perfect.”
Yesterday was a school holiday and I got to keep Clare at home with me. She is now a little over three years old, has a mind which is sharp as a tack, is very humorous, and just loves life. When she stays at our house we follow the same discipline rules as her Mom and Dad so that there is consistency in her training. She definitely has a mind of her own, and sometimes is very hard-headed. This leads me to the story of the day about how the toilet water turned black.
I paint on canvas and my studio is in our master bedroom. Clare to loves to paint and I have tried to let her know she paints in the kitchen and Nana paints in her room. However, due to her adding her own little touch to a canvass in progress on a day I left my brushes out, I have learned to put as much away as possible when she comes to stay.
Our day together, when school was out, was perfect. Other than she did not take a nap, the day could not have been more fun. When my husband came home for work I needed to leave for about 2 hours. Now Ken, Papa, sometimes gets in his own world and often needs to take work related calls at all hours. So when I called home to check on things, he said, "Clare changed her clothes." I told him that was fine for she likes going in her overnight bag and trying on clothes. I called later and he said, I wouldn’t let her take a bath before dinner and Clare told me Nana was going to be really mad at him. We laughed and I began the drive toward home.
While I was fixing her dinner Ken came in the kitchen and said: “Do you know why the toilet water is black.” I was so busy I just said “No” and focused on dinner. After dinner we took our bubble bath and then put on a movie for her to watch. I went in the bedroom, where my studio is located, and started to get the bed ready for her. Suddenly I looked at the table and saw a bottle of black paint. I then saw my current painting in progress, and saw the black paint on the canvas. Upon further inspection, she had found a small flower pot, put it on my iron table, poured the black paint into the flower pot, which directly fell through the hole in the bottom to the floor. And somewhere she had found a paint brush. It was all coming together now.
While Ken was in his zone, she had time to plan out what she was going to do, how she was going to do it, and then smart enough to obviously clean up in the toilet which would be the only water she could reach. She then changed her clothes and acted as nothing had happened. But where were the clothes she had taken off. This bothered me as I could not find them…..Until, thinking on her level I looked under the bed. Sure enough there was the pink dress, panties, socks, all under the bed. Little Black Hand prints were on the dress, and the panties; well obviously she had used those as a towel.
Now, did I ask her about this? No, and I will tell you why. It was all Papa’s fault. He did not follow the carnal rule: Never, ever, let her out of your sight for more than ONE MINUTE.
So by the time I put her to bed I had solved the mystery of the Black Water In the Toilet Bowl. Just to see what she would say when I picked her up and put her in the bed, I walked over to the painting and looked at it with my back turned to her. As I turned she was watching me carefully, her eyes wide. I turned and just looked at her. And slowly a tight lipped smile began to tentatively form on her face. I gave her a small smile back and she knew I knew and yes, we will talk about this again! But for that night, it was just enough that she knew and for me the mystery was solved.