5 Quarters

"Did you flush the toilet?  Did you wash your hands?"  These are the questions I ask multiple times a day when I see one of my boys tearing out of the bathroom.  Whether they readily admit it or not, the answer is almost always no.  I do not understand this.  I have tried drilling it into them, beating them over the head with it again and again, but still, they "forget" these important steps in sequence of using voiding themselves.  Time and time again I turn them back around so they can head right back in there and complete the process.

Boys being boys, they have of course tried to figure out how it is that I know whether or not if they have indeed done these things without even listening to their verbal responses.  They seem to be truly stumped as to how I just know.  Of course, listening to hear for a flush followed by a rush of water is one way, but my boys aren't stupid and they figured that one out early.  They were truly amazed the first time someone turned on the sink but neglected to wash that mom caught on.  They of course then moved on to the wetting without washing of the hands trick, but somehow Mom still knew.

In the not so distant past Rob went in and out of the bathroom rather quickly.  When asked about flushing and washing (knowing the response should be affirmative and negative), Rob's word were quickly yes and yes, but his eyes told a different story.  Dad happened to be closer and made a move closer to Rob when Rob balled his hands up and said, "You can't small my hands."

Michael stepped closer and zoom, off ran Rob, "Only if you can catch me!" said a giggly blur.

"Mom! You should get this on video.  If you posted it on Youtube, you'd already have 5 quarters by now."

"Huh?  What do you mean Ray?"

"For every 1,000 hits or something like that, Youtube pays you a quarter.  You could make a lot of money that way!"