How Much Damage Has YOUR Four Year Caused?

I received two calls today.

CALL #1: The first one came as we were leaving a fun play date. Everyone was in a great mood and we were on our way home for naps and then to go outside to play. The call was from an employee at our credit union saying that the wallet I lost last Friday was being held at a bank In Zeeland (about 25 minutes away). I thanked her profusely and told the boys we were going to skip quiet time today and drive to Zeeland to pick up my wallet instead.

Walking into the bank, I went up to the teller counter and identified myself. Meanwhile, Aaron was complaining that he needed to use the bathroom. So the teller told him where to go. About 30 seconds later, he came back, announcing to the entire world that "I NEED TO GO NUMBER TWO, TOO!" The tellers were all smiling at "how cute this little kid is".

So I finished updating my account with the tellers (which is why it took five days to reach me; they didn't have current information in their computer) and went to the bathroom myself. Aaron was still in the little boys room.

After I finished, I checked into the boys room and Aaron was still doing his thing, so Noah and I went to sit out in the lobby. After quite awhile longer, I sent Noah in to check on him and he came back a minute later letting me know that Aaron was fine.

So about anther five minutes later, I figured he'd had long enough so I went to check on him. From what I could see Aaron was at the sink washing his hands and then came bounding out of the bathroom.

We put on our coats and headed on our way. As we were leaving, Aaron was telling a story about making a hot tub out of water in the sink in the bathroom. I just kind of smiled, and so did the tellers because his imagination was cute (or so we thought).

Call #2

About an hour later, the boys had been sent to their rooms for "quiet time" and I heard my phone ring. I didn't get to it in time and I waited for the voice mail to register so I could see who called. Here is the message I heard:


"Hi, Mrs. W, This is H from the bank. I know you were just in here, but I wanted to let you know what your son did. When he was here, he plugged up the sink and left the water running. It has now run out of bathroom and there is water all over our lobby floor. You don't have to do anything but we wanted to let you know so you can talk to your son and so he doesn't do anything like that again to someone else."





OMG! Are you serious? Did my 4 year old son really cause thousands of dollars of damage to a bank? He has always been prone to play in the water in the bathroom, but I can't believe that THIS actually happened. I am extremely ashamed and embarrassed. I guess he really DID make a hot tub in the bathroom. I am very happy that we will never have to set foot in that bank again, and I am still wondering if the bank's insurance company will come after me once they get a damage cost.

My own toilet overflowed Monday morning, flooded the entire bathroom and into our basement and we couldn't afford to bring a plumber out for our own house. The last thing I can do is afford to pay for a company's damages.

So I guess I wait and see if anything else comes of it. But for now, I am shocked and upset that Aaron could have done this and I feel like I can't ever trust him in a bathroom again. I don't really think a punishment is in line because it won't register in his mind since it has been hours since this happened. I really don't know HOW to handle this. On top of it, I am struggling with an issue with Noah that came up the last week of school that is driving Steve and me bonkers and it seems to only be getting worse.

AND ON TOP OF THAT...

The pharmacy wouldn't fill my prescription last Sunday because it was expired so I didn't start my hormones this month, which means that the fact that I am being all nasty could be because I am all whacked out, and have nothing to do with the boys at all.

I am going to stop writing now, since I know when I type faster, I am just getting more and more upset. I think I will go hide now...