Shower Interrupted

So . . . yesterday I'm in the shower. It's one of my peaceful places and it has become more and more peaceful in the last couple of months.

It wasn't long ago that a 45-second shower was the max. I just wasn't comfortable leaving the boys alone for any longer than that. And they were usually in the bathroom at the time, seeing who could throw the greatest number of items into the tub in that 45 seconds.

But lately, they seem content to do whatever they're doing, downstairs, while I enjoy a solid five minutes in the shower.

And yesterday, following half an hour on the treadmill, I was confident that Max and Ruby were keeping the boys sufficiently occupied, so I headed for the shower and my five minutes of peace and solitude.

I got about three.

And then Sonwun, the elder, came charging into the bathroom crying. And it was a real cry, not a whiny attention-seeking cry.

"I hurt my little brother," he said.

Now, I've heard this line before and, when it's accompanied by this particular kind of cry, it means he's actually hurt his brother and usually on purpose. And when Sontoo starts crying it scares Sonwun, who immediately comes to confess. It's never been anything really serious, maybe a bonk in the head or a fat lip. Yes, it needs addressing, but it isn't the end of the world.

"What happened," I ask, as I turn off the water.

"I hurt my little brother and his face is all red," Sonwun replies.

Oh shit. Now that doesn't sound good.

I leap out of the shower, grab a towel and go running down the stairs, expecting a gory scene involving some manner of Fisher Price impalement. Leaving a trail of wet carpet I make my way to the top of the basement stairs, where I find Sontoo . . . smiling and laughing. Sure, you could see that he'd been crying, but he was over it now and was just finding my hastily constructed toga quite amusing.

So, following interrogation, I learned that Sonwun had smacked Sontoo in the mouth with his Spiderman utility rope and hook. It probably pissed Sontoo off to the point where he actually turned red while crying. But he wasn't bleeding anywhere and the pain was quickly forgotten.

The utility hook has been confiscated, as Sonwun had been warned umpteen times about swinging it wildly around the house, especially anywhere near his younger brother.

Anyhoo, that was my excitement for yesterday.

And, to keep with the theme of the last couple of posts, my gourmet cooking tips for the day:

1. When the bag of tatertots says cook at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, and the fish sticks need to be cooked at 400 degrees, you can do the tots at 400 degrees for half an hour and they come out perfect.

2. When you put a frying pan in the oven at 400 degrees for 14 minutes, the handle gets very hot. It will hurt a lot if you try to pick it up without oven mitts.

My culinary words of wisdom for the day.

Happy Hump Day. Celebrate as you see fit.