What calls me 'Mom' and is purple all over?

We have a trick. It's a good trick. We started it about 2 years ago when the Bird wouldn't take a bath. We'd grab a bottle of food coloring and add a few drops to the tub to make his bathwater 'magically' turn colors.

As he's gotten older this trick still works. We simply ask him if he'd like colored bathwater and with this strategy have avoided numerous tantrums. Suddenly, he's practically begging to get in the tub.

Over the past two years we've accumulated quite the assortment of food coloring. We have everything from the blah-and-boring standard assorted colors to the burn-your-retinas neon colors. Yeah!

[photo via]

Last night, we had to pull out the big guns. The food coloring. We even {gasp} let the Bird choose his own color. Of course he chose neon purple. And, I'll admit, it's a pretty amazing color. 

The secret to using food coloring in the tub is to only use a few drops. A few. No more than 5 or 6 ish. It's very precise you see. More like a science. 

He excitedly jumped and played and, most importantly of all, bathed in bright neon purple bath. Once again, crisis avoided. And Parent of the Year right here. 

That was last night. 

Tonight, the Bird willingly took a bath. No need to pull out a rainbow assortment of food coloring. Mr. B+B bathed him and we left him playing happily as we bathed his sister, the Boo, in her infant tub and picked up laundry around the house. When else am I supposed to get anything done? 

He was in earshot. We carried on conversations and checked in on him frequently. 

Then he calls me into the bathroom because he wants to "show me something." I honestly expected for him to show me how he had "bathed" all of his cars in a makeshift car wash or possibly how he could "float" in the tub but what I didn't expect to see was...

A very, very purple bathtub and a very purple polka-dotted Bird. 

Apparently...The previous night "we" hadn't returned the food coloring to it's home in the kitchen cabinet. In fact, it was sitting in eyesight directly beside the soap and the shampoo in the bathtub. So I guess you could say that "we" were asking for it. 

The Bird decided to add his own food coloring to his bathwater. He poured in half the bottle before realizing he had "made a mess." Then, in an attempt to help he tried to "clean it up," but failed miserably by splashing the dye all over the shower walls and floor. 

While "cleaning it up" the Bird had also managed to get food coloring all over his body in big purple splotches from his neck down and all over our white tub, white tile, and (you guessed it) white grout. Yay. 

Needless to say, through the magic of the magic eraser I was able to clean most of the tub, tile and grout. The only areas that it truly stained was the caulk, but that's really no biggy. 

However, the Bird will be sporting neon purple spots for the next few days. And, of course, he thinks it's cool. I, however, will spend the next few hours contemplating how to color coordinate his neon purple spots to his outfit tomorrow.