Not the Good Kind

Laughter.  It really is the best medicine.  Especially a child's laugh.  There is such innocence and joy in their laugh.  There is no sweeter sound to me than to hear my boys giggling in delight. However, in my three short years as a Mom I have learned that there are two kinds of laughter.  The first comes from pure happiness and excitement as a child experiences life.  Funny things, playmates, learning something new...these all may lead to laughter.  Good, wholesome laughter.  The other kind of laughter is not the good kind.  While it sounds the same and as a mother part of your heart still skips a beat as you hear their joy, you know something naughty preceded the laughter.  And by naughty, I mean usually being down right bad.

This morning as I stepped out of the shower (one of those lovely five minute ones) I heard Sam and Jack both squealing in pure delight.  I instantly smiled and thought, "Wow, what a great way to start the day." More squeals.  More laughter.  I walked into my bedroom and expected to see them on my bed bouncing on the pillows or maybe even in Sam's room pulling books of the shelf.  Nope.  I soon realized that their bathroom door was shut, water was running and the squeals were coming from behind the door.  My next thought was that Sam was brushing his teeth and must be doing a silly routine that Jack found down right hilarious.  I opened the door hoping to be entertained as well.

And I saw this...

My babies had gotten a ladle from the kitchen and were shoveling toilet water in their mouth like there was no tomorrow.  It actually took a second for my brain to register what I was seeing.  Were they really doing this?  What on earth would make them want to drink from the toilet when their milk cups were full and a door full of juice boxes are sitting in my refrigerator?  But they were loving that toilet water.  They couldn't get it in their mouth fast enough.  Their clothes were soaked, the floor was soaked and they were laughing so hard they didn't even hear me walk in.  Luckily, my camera was close by so I could capture this moment.  So I took a few pictures, set my camera down calmly and mad Mama came for a visit.  I gave them a long lecture about nastiness, germs and even threatened a trip to Dr. Mann.  And they looked up at me with those big brown eyes completely dumbstruck by my anger and disgust as if to say, "What's the big deal Mama?  We were thirsty and that water looked perfectly fine to us."  My rant only lasted a minute and soon they were off to play as if nothing happened.  I am just thankful that the toilet appeared to have been flushed prior to them using it as a water cooler, which doesn't always happen when you live with boys (young ones and old ones). A reminder to me that it really could always be just a little bit worse.