Alternatively titled: What Is That Smell?
or
My Son is a Nutso
or
A Glimpse at the Ridiculously Unglamorous Side of My Life


As a parent, one can often find oneself saying things and/or doing things that you would never have fathomed you'd ever do or say. It's impossible to grasp the severity of how gross things can get or how unbelievably insane a child can be at times.

It's not always a smooth ride, this parenting stuff.

But, there's a lot of funny in there.

So, I walk into my son's room the other day. I'm picking up a little bit and he's oblivious, playing a video game. I start to realize that it really stinks in there. I mean, really stinks.

Me: "What in the world is that smell?"

TRex: ever so nonchalantly, "Oh, probably my pee bucket."

Me: incredulously, "Um, what?!"

Peek over the side of the bed and see a tin bucket sitting on the floor.

Filled with....wait for it....you guess it....pee.

Um, what?!!

Ew. Gross. Blech. What??!!!

Now, part of me wants to shriek, "What the bleepity bleep bleep bleepity bleep were you thinking?!"

I just started laughing.

I mean, really. What the hell was this child thinking? Do I get angry over the laziness, the disgusting disregard for sanitation, the blatant shrug at the fact that we have places where that stuff is supposed to go? Do I give credit to the ingenuity of a child who obviously couldn't be bothered to leave the area he's playing for long enough to relieve himself?

No. I laughed.

Then I had to explain to him that I wasn't laughing because it was okay that he had done that. Had to explain to someone that it's not okay to pee in a bucket in your bedroom!!! Really? I have to explain that? I never thought I'd have to explain that to someone.

I think I got a new gray hair that night.