My Grossest Story of the Year

Annika, seen above in a moment of intense giggling, has entered a new stage of mobility and subsequent orneriness in the past month or so.

Our little angel baby, with whom we really never had many issues, is suddenly creating all kinds of problems. For instance, now that she can climb on just about any chair, she's more than happy to get better access to the table (and cups of milk left behind by forgetful older siblings) or the computer keyboard, which she'll bang on as fast as she can before she gets caught.

She's constantly into the dog food, carrying pieces of it around the house to try to feed Monty, and if he refuses, (which is nearly always), she leaves the little pile on the floor and heads back for more.

But the worst is the bathroom. If someone has forgotten to close the door, you'd better believe she'll discover her easy access to the toilet paper and the joys of unrolling it as far as possible in no time. Yes, that's annoying. But not nearly as bad as this.

A couple of nights ago, I was running the kids through their nightly routine of pjs, brushing teeth, one last potty break before we read a story. I left Corban using the toilet to check on Marissa in her progress in changing to pajamas and discovered Annika making a huge mess in Marissa's room. I started cleaning that up and neglected to notice that Annika had left the room. Seconds later, just seconds, I'm telling you, that realization hit me and I jumped up, making all kinds of haste to the bathroom, where I had a sneaking suspicion she'd be.

I was not wrong.

Corban had finished peeing and was brushing his teeth.......and Annika???

She had snagged Marissa's cup from the counter and was (I cringe to even say it) dipping it into the non-flushed toilet and taking sips.

There.

You have it.

My grossest story of the year.

I was, in fact, so grossed out that I just grabbed her and stood there hollering gibberish.....and Grant flew up the stairs to help me.

The joys of parenthood. Wouldn't trade them for the world!