Friday, February 24, 2006
Water, water everywhere
Timothy is OBSESSED with water right now. More specifically, he is obsessed with pouring water. He loves to pour water from one glass to another, or to pour it in the sink, or the bathtub, or the toilet, or a plastic tub. Or to pour it on the floor, which is somewhat of a problem.
A few weeks ago, Timothy woke up very early one morning, about 4 a.m. My wife kept an eye on him for a while, then around 5:30 she woke me up. I went out into the living room. I sat down on the couch and promptly dozed off. A while later I woke up to the sound of water being poured on something. By now, I had learned to recognize the sound of water being poured into the kitchen sink, the dishwasher, the toilet, the bathtub, the bathroom sink (which is enamel rather than stainless steel, so it sounds different than the kitchen sink), a plastic tub, and the floor. This wasn't any of these sounds, so I decided that I needed to get up and see what was going on.
I walked into the kitchen and found Ethan standing on the stovetop (we keep the knobs in a locked drawer so that he can't turn it on) pouring water into the big pot we use for spaghetti. We'd had spaghetti for dinner that evening and hadn't cleaned up the pot. My sleep-addled thought process went something like this--water, water into big metal pot, pot holds water, water won't go onto floor, ok, I can still sleep. So I went back to the couch and lay down again. About half an hour later I woke up again to the same sound. I went back in the kitchen, and this time the pot was about an inch from overflowing. So I dumped all the water into the sink, and set the pot down inside the sink, so that if it overflowed it would run down the drain instead of all over the stove and onto the floor.
Timothy's water fixation has done some minor damage to the house now. We need to replace the backsplash behind the sink. The caulk on the bottom is fine, but there wasn't any caulk around the top, and Timothy pours so exuberantly that he splashes the water onto the top. We've gotten enough water behind the backspash now that it is starting to warp. I hope we won't find too much mold or mildew back there when we tear it out.
I've also learned to recognize several additional pouring sounds now: water being poured onto a plate, a cookie sheet, and in a cereal bowl. We have to be really careful about leaving half-drunk glasses of water lying around. We also keep the bathroom doors locked all the time. A few weeks ago one of my friends helped me replace the cut-off valves under the kitchen sink. Now we turn the water off at the sink before we go to bed as well.
A few weeks ago, Timothy woke up very early one morning, about 4 a.m. My wife kept an eye on him for a while, then around 5:30 she woke me up. I went out into the living room. I sat down on the couch and promptly dozed off. A while later I woke up to the sound of water being poured on something. By now, I had learned to recognize the sound of water being poured into the kitchen sink, the dishwasher, the toilet, the bathtub, the bathroom sink (which is enamel rather than stainless steel, so it sounds different than the kitchen sink), a plastic tub, and the floor. This wasn't any of these sounds, so I decided that I needed to get up and see what was going on.
I walked into the kitchen and found Ethan standing on the stovetop (we keep the knobs in a locked drawer so that he can't turn it on) pouring water into the big pot we use for spaghetti. We'd had spaghetti for dinner that evening and hadn't cleaned up the pot. My sleep-addled thought process went something like this--water, water into big metal pot, pot holds water, water won't go onto floor, ok, I can still sleep. So I went back to the couch and lay down again. About half an hour later I woke up again to the same sound. I went back in the kitchen, and this time the pot was about an inch from overflowing. So I dumped all the water into the sink, and set the pot down inside the sink, so that if it overflowed it would run down the drain instead of all over the stove and onto the floor.
Timothy's water fixation has done some minor damage to the house now. We need to replace the backsplash behind the sink. The caulk on the bottom is fine, but there wasn't any caulk around the top, and Timothy pours so exuberantly that he splashes the water onto the top. We've gotten enough water behind the backspash now that it is starting to warp. I hope we won't find too much mold or mildew back there when we tear it out.
I've also learned to recognize several additional pouring sounds now: water being poured onto a plate, a cookie sheet, and in a cereal bowl. We have to be really careful about leaving half-drunk glasses of water lying around. We also keep the bathroom doors locked all the time. A few weeks ago one of my friends helped me replace the cut-off valves under the kitchen sink. Now we turn the water off at the sink before we go to bed as well.
