It had been an exhausting day. A day filled with kid-friendly activities ranging from swimming and dancing to playdates and picnics. I felt I was really earning my title as mom that day.
In the evening, after we were returning from the last of our day's events at the Princess Party at the pool, the kids were full of beans. My 2.5 year old son missed his afternoon nap so I knew already that he was well past his expiry date and running on fumes. Yes, it was time for psychotic little boy behaviour to kick in.
We were bringing home our neighbour's daughter from the Princess Party so I needed to call them to advise we'd be passing her over the back fence momentarily. In addition to carrying my 10 month old, my six year old daughter joined me for the walk around from the front of the house to the back to say goodnight to her friend.
As we were leaving from the front door (a full-length glass screen), my son appeared in all his naked glory. He had clearly had enough of his bathing suit and swimmer diaper. I thought it was reasonably safe to leave him for 30 seconds to run darling neighbour girl home.
I was wrong. Before I knew it, my daughter was yelling "He's peeing! He's peeing!" I ran back to look and there he was spraying urine all around the inner foyer, soaking not only the entrance rug but also his beloved bedtime cuddly bear. He had the most ridiculous grin on his face. It looked a bit like one of those backyard octopus contraptions you attach to your hose and it sprays out in all directions at once. There really was pee flying in every direction.
Normally, I'd have lost it. But tonight, I was so drained I could only laugh. I motioned for him to stay put; I still needed to get darling neighbour girl back to her family and feared she'd been traumatized. The look on her face was priceless.
As we made our way around back and got sweet neighbour girl over the fence, we heard banging from our house. We looked back to see my son waving frantically at us through our family room picture window. He was leaping around on the sofa, in full naked display, tongue hanging out and eyes crossed, pressed up to the window. My son, the exhibitionist.
I do hope our neighbours forgive us for exposing their little girl to such a show. As for my son, it took a good 15 minutes to wrangle him into his diaper and pyjamas. It also took about 20 minutes for my daughter and I to stop laughing at him. What a great way to end a long day.