The Urinator

Since it was pouring down rain and utterly miserable, we decided to take Timmy to yet another indoor playground. Because of the weather, I was confident that the place would be filled with lots of new buddies. My predictions were correct because the place was packed.

Scott and I assumed our spot in the parent cafe while Timmy ran, climbed and played with assorted buddies throughout the afternoon. After about three hours, an announcement was made that they were closing the play structure for cleaning. Closing the playground in the middle of a busy day could only mean one thing: some sort of body fluid malfunction.  

Because we had been there for three hours already, I took the opportunity to wrangle Timmy to go home. To our surprise, he was rather quick with his agreement to leave. The typical tantrum was replaced with a pleasant "okay Momom" before he went to put on his shoes. It was a small change which felt like a ginormous parenting victory.

During our drive home, while Scott and I were quietly guessing about why the playground had been closed, our little Timmy chimed in with his own theory. "Yellow slide was closed because Timmy pee peed down the slide. Timmy said hey buddy, watch this. Timmy peed down the yellow slide." 

Scott and I were both stone-faced with this admission. Did my sweet little boy, the very one who delighted us by willingly agreeing to leave the playground, just admit to being 'The Urinator?' Or was he just yacking in the back and trying to impress us? Either way, I was mortified.

After a few moments of silence to process, I told Timmy that if he was the one who peed down the slide, that it was a very bad thing to do. Scott reminded him that everybody had to stop playing and that a lot of kids had to leave early because of the dirty slide. During our conversation, Timmy's story continued to morph and change, planting seeds of doubt. At one point he laid claim to pooping down the slide.  He also vehemently denied participation, naming a buddy as the culprit.

Either way, we decided that we needed to follow through an appropriate punishment. It was decided that he was not going to be allowed to ride his bike (the rain had stopped) and would not be permitted to watch cartoons for the remainder of the day. He also needs to apologize to the playground manager the next time we visit (even though I am not thrilled with being identified as the mother of The Urinator.)

Talking between ourselves, Scott and I are unsure if Timmy actually peed down the yellow slide. Honestly, I think it is probably 50-50 that it was him. I'd like to believe that he was only trying to participate in the conversation, but there was a boastful pride in his declaration that makes me worry.