Day of a thousand goofs

Okay, there weren't actually a thousand goofs yesterday. It just seemed like it.

Number 1: Just before school, Emmett barfed in the kitchen. On the area rug. Which violates one of our basic household rules:

Don't barf where it will be hard to clean up.

Toilet. Perfect.
Bucket. Next best place.
Sink. Acceptable.
Linoleum. No problem.
Tabletop, hardwood floor, the lawn, wastebasket. If you must.

As opposed to:

Bedspread.
Under the clawfoot tub.
Heating vent.
Refrigerator door.
Television cabinet.
Car seat.

Not good! None of these! No, no, no!

And not the woven area rug in our kitchen. But Emmett couldn't hold out, so that's where it went.

And he had just drunk a glass of Hi-C with red dye. Which rhymes with ... sigh.

He did feel well enough to go to school, though, so he covered his output with a dish towel for later consideration.

Number 2: Ethan greeted me by explaining what was under the dish towel. This delicious opportunity to deride his brother, however, was blunted by sheepishness over his own goof.

"Dad, I have good news and bad news."

To show me the bad news, he took off his glasses and showed me that one stem now had black electrical tape holding it together.

"The good news is that we started a new unit in school where we get to solder."

I'll have to report back later about that that comes out. But Goof 2 leads us to ...

3. Ethan got the black tape for his glasses from the basement. And to get to the basement, he used the stairs. Which I had painted with oil paint the evening before. And which weren't dry yet. So there were dusty footprints in the still-tacky paint. Sigh (again).

Here's where things get interesting.

I kept my cool about the steps because the truth is that I knew that I would probably need to give them a second coat, anyway. There were some streaks in the first coat. But I kept that to myself and sternly laid down the law.

"I'll do the steps. You help Emmett clean the rug."

Now THAT is what's known as parenting.

For failing to tape off the doorway at the top of the steps, I'll mildly rebuke myself: Keith, Ya Goof!

But for their dastardly deeds, I say yet again to Ethan and Emmett: Ya Goofs!