Growing Up Austin

It isn’t that we don’t want to play with our kids ALL THE TIME, but sometimes Blue Eyes and I would like to watch TV or have an uninterrupted conversation or have peace and quiet for more than seven minutes in a row.

So we bought a bigger house.

It has a second living area upstairs.

We furnished it with exciting and lovely toys.

Now, we know Sparkles and Buttercup are a little young to play by themselves, being just two- and three-years-old.

We knew this would take time and patience.

We were hopeful.

We started leaving them alone for just a few minutes at a time. As they experimented with their new independence, we set new boundaries.

Rule Number One. No playing in the bathroom.

Rule Number Two. This includes no playing with bar soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, lotion, anything belonging to Noel (make-up, jewelry, shaving cream) or water. Definitely no water.

After several incidences, we decided that there was just too much temptation in one place. The bathroom has those modern decorator shelves, each one a little more to the left or right than the other. In an unusual decorating approach, we use these shelves for all liquid and semi-liquid items that tempt our girls. And this worked for quite a while.

Until they found the toothpaste on the counter, still in reach. Temporarily forgetting Rule Number One and noticing this item missing from the list in Rule Number Two, they went straight to work at Spa Ramsey.

They gave their babies toothpaste facials. Six babies. Then they gave each other facials. They they still had toothpaste left so Buttercup started the beginning of a full-body treatment.

I’m not putting the toothpaste on a shelf.

You can’t put everything out of reach.

They need to learn self-control, a little at a time, starting now.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Once again, we are hopeful.