The Informant

Tonight as Charlie was getting the kids dressed for bed, I was busy cleaning up the kitchen from dinner. Carolyn and Elizabeth had already been changed in to their pajamas and were running around the house, noisily playing with their doll carriages.

At one point, I caught Carolyn calling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

This is normal. She'll call out my name at least 10,000,000 times a day. But tonight, for the first time ever, I heard a hint of an accusatory tone to her tiny little voice. When I turned around to look at her, she was standing in the hallway, in her pink jammies, with her Mr. Potato Head glasses perched on her nose - pointing to the bathroom.

From my perspective, I couldn't see what exactly she was pointing at - but I could hear running water. When I saw that Charlie was with William in the nursery - the first thought through my head was that maybe my husband left the sink running in the bathroom.

You never know ... it's possible that he might leave the bathroom door wide open and the sink running with unsupervised two toddlers on the loose.

Possible, but not likely.

My second thought was "Oh $*&^#%..."

I ran around the corner and spotted Elizabeth, using the toilet as a step, leaning across the counter with her arms plunged in to the sink. She had managed to turn on both taps ... hot and cold. Her mission was to fill up one of the "blue bowls" that we had brought home from the hospital when the babies were newborns and which we use every-other-night to hold water when we give the children sponge baths. Apparently, Elizabeth was planning to give her baby doll a sponge bath, too. But only after my sweet little daughter dumped several blue bowls worth of water all over the counter, toilet, floor and bathmats.

Had the house not just been thoroughly cleaned a few days ago, I might have seized this opportunity to sprinkle Comet on the floor and scrub. Alas, the extra effort I exerted would not have been necessary - if there wasn't a gallon of water on the floor.

One day, I'm sure that tattling will be really bothersome. But as of right now, it's wonderful to know that when I don't see something ... I have two narks extra pair of eyes always on the look-out. Now, I just have to figure out a way to encourage our children to rat out ensure that their siblings remain out of danger or mischief. I'm thinking something along the lines of a candy - monetary - toy - new pony reward system.

So long as they're not working together as a team - ganging up against me - this toddler triplethood stuff ain't too bad. Although, it would be a lot easier if I could still have a glass of wine every night.