Fun for all

Yesterday, my mom and I watched my sister's boys.  They're so much fun, those two, even if they can talk a little much, get a little too loud and a little too rowdy.  They adore my kid, and they love her toys.  Which is how yesterday afternoon happened.

After a hot morning on a walk and a long nap, Eliza was in need of a bath.  So, being her mommy, I gave her one.  Mike and Jim are fascinated with all things Eliza (they've even been known to come in during her poopy-diaper changes), and they came to visit her in her bath.  Not for the first time, they began to play with her bath toys.  These bath toys are nothing special: little plastic/rubber sea animals with spouts at their mouth that allow you to fill them with water so you can squirt it out of their mouths.  I squirted Jim, which he thought was funny.  I squirted Mike, which caused him to retreat from the bathroom at high speed and linger in the kitchen (at the other side of the house) until I promised I wouldn't squirt him again unless he asked for it.  And then, of course, both boys had to try it out.  Since Eliza was in her bath and not always completely impressed with the use of her own toys against her, I suggested I might take them outside for a squirt-fest if the boys were good throughout the afternoon.  I am a woman of my word, so shortly after 5pm, I took them outside, slathered in sunscreen, dressed in only their shorts, water bucket and squirt toys in hand.

It was glorious.  The afternoon was above 90-degrees and the water not freezing cold from the hose.  Nick arrived home shortly after we began, and I convinced him to join us.  What had been a rather organized and well-ruled squirt volley denigrated into an all-out squirt war!  Both boys were completely soaked and Nick and I not altogether dry (Nick has a dirty, under-handed way of squirting you in uncomfortable places while you're bent over the bucket, refilling your toy...), when Mom and Dad arrived.  Grammy (my mom) had even come outside to witness the carnage.

These are the things I love about summer: "loosening the ties" as it were, running around in your bare feet, willing to be soaked, the air filled with shrieks of laughter and children's pleasure.  I look forward to the day when we are doing such things with our own kids as well.