This week my lovely mister had a business trip to Vegas (I know, poor him), so I packed up the two kiddos in the car and headed for for my mom's house in Missouri. The drive wasn't a total disaster like expected, so by the time the trip was over and we had another successful drive home, I was - and still am - feeling like Supermom. But I digress.
Since it was the middle of the week, my sister Rachel invited us to tag along with my niece Lily, 4, and nephew Ethan, 9 months, to their weekly story time at the library. I happily grabbed my morning coffee and donuts from the best local place in my hometown town, Daylight Donuts, and met my sister in the parking lot at the library down the street.
As we walked in, Cole took off running with Lily and I called (rather loudly, my sister said), "Cole! Come back here!" My sister shushed me. Then the librarian approached and said, "Ma'am, you can't have your drink in here." I looked down at my coffee and back at her. I wanted to strangle her, being that The Boy had already disappeared into the enormous book shelves and my daughter was trying to climb me. My sister volunteered to watch them while I returned my sweet, hot coffee to my freezing cold car.
Story time went well for the first five minutes, with Cole on Rachel's lap and Stella on mine. Some serious woman in a silly hat read Dr. Seuss books to the small crowd of really, really silent children and mothers. All I could think was how quiet it was with a room full of babies and toddlers, like some freaky twilight zone. Then my son discovered the doors to this community room were open to some really cool hallways and stairs, and of course, his sister quickly followed him.
At first we were a little worried he'd climbed up these steep stairs, but he quickly - and too quietly - called out my name (Mom, of course) from a dark room across the hall. With the girl in my arms - captured after too many retrievals from the stairs of death while searching for her brother - I saw him peek out from behind the door. "Cole," I whispered. "What are you doing?" I went closer and he pointed to the corner behind the door. "Pee," he said. Horrified, I looked down into the darkness to see a tiny puddle of pee on the carpet.
Story time ended after that. I guess the moral of Cole's story is if you don't let my mom have her coffee, I'll pee on your rug.
