Mellie and the Water Bowl (Part Two)

Here is part two, back by popular request!!!

Quick recap of part one -- I learned to be more suspicious when Mellie is quiet when she created a huge mess by giving Sock Monkey a thorough bath in the water bowl for the free-ranging animals (generally referred to as the dogs' water bowl as the dogs out number the cat AND the cat does not generally drink out of it if she has a choice).

This took place the week before last, when Ronnie was home alone with Mellie.  Due to our finances, we could not afford to take Mellie to day care that week, and Ronnie had to turn down several subbing jobs in order to watch her at home.  Good news, though, is that this created several good stories for us to share with our friends and family (and eventually Mellie's first boyfriend.  And her second one.  And her future husband, along with future children, and generally anyone else who would enjoy hearing embarrassing stories about her.)

Clearly, Ronnie had not learned the lesson of being suspicious when Mellie is quiet.  Or maybe he was distracted while browsing for potential jobs online....  Despite our continued efforts to keep Mellie away from the dogs' water bowl (including time outs - both in her activity center and her pack and play, yelling, and more yelling, along with keeping it nearly empty - poor dogs), it continues to have a nearly supernatural draw for her.  Yeah, that must be it.  It's supernatural, not bad parenting on our parts.  :)

So, Ronnie discovers Mellie has gotten into the dogs' water bowl.  Nothing terribly interesting here.  What he discovered however, was NOT a wet puddle around the bowl, or a wet Mellie, or anything as mundane as that.  What he discovered was an EMPTY water bowl.  Here is the picture of the water bowl again.

I don't know if you can tell, but the water bowl is pretty large.  It may not be heavy, but it is large.  Mellie has never tried to lift it or flip it or knock it over, and when Ronnie discovered the empty water bowl, the water bowl was not in any unusual place or knocked over. 

SHE HAD PLAYED WITH THE WATER SO FRANTICALLY THAT SHE EMPTIED THE WATER OUT OF THE D@MN THING!!!!!  

So, Ronnie used the towels that we use to clean up to sop it all up.  Unfortunately, he missed a smidgen.  Which I found later that evening with, you guessed it, the heel of my bare foot.  Causing my foot/leg to go straight up in the air, and I nearly fell.  Fortunately, my forearm hit the doorway to the kitchen (causing a bruise that I still have today, nearly two weeks later) and I managed to grab the wood paneling there and prevent a disastrous, not to mention painful, fall on my part.  Whew. 

Honestly, I wish I could come up with a solution to this problem.  I cannot pick the water bowl up, because the animals need to have access to water, especially with the current heatwave/drought (the cat was desperate enough to drink out of the water bowl last night) we are currently experiencing (not that the dogs ever place a PAW outside if they can help it).  If I put the water bowl out of Mellie's domain, it is also out of THEIR domain (note that Mellie is a similar size compared to the dogs) and they do not have access to it.  If YOU have a bright idea, feel free to share it. 

I'm sure this is not the end, and I will not be terribly surprised if I have to write a part 3 in the near future.  Hopefully, it will not entail me (or Ronnie or god forbid MELLIE) making a trip to the emergency room.

Mellie and the Water Bowl (part 1)

In my previous post, I introduced you to our pugs, Pippin and Maggie, and our cat Dee Dee was also mentioned.  I think of these animals as our "free-ranging" animals as they are not in cages like our prairie dogs and flying squirrels. 

So obviously, they require a water bowl.

Years ago I purchased this water bowl for our free ranging animals (which has numbered as high as four - two dogs and two cats, although now the number is down to three.  Yes, I know that means I have an opening, but we are not looking to fill it, so please DO NOT send me e-mails about cute little cuddly dogs or cats that need a good home.  And dear god, DON'T EXPECT ME TO WATCH THE SARAH MCLAUGHLIN SPCA COMMERCIALS!!!!). 

Ahem.  I don't really remember what we used before, I just remember getting irritated at having to fill the dern bowl so often so I got the biggest one they sold.  Although it's a pain in the rear to clean, it's nice that theoretically we don't have to refill it very often.  Two small dogs and one cat that prefers other water sources and will only deign to drink out of the same bowl the DOGS drink out of when other water sources are not available and she is about to drop dead from dehydration (if you're familiar with cat psychology, you understand) should not empty very quickly, right? 

You may have noticed the low level of the water.  And the fact that the reservoir is COMPLETELY empty.  This is not an accident, this is on purpose.

Enter HURRICANE Mellie.....

This picture was taken shortly before her first birthday.  See the doll that she is holding?  That is SOCK MONKEY.  She, has two, this is her first one that generally stays in her crib.  The second one is larger and more traditional looking, and his name is Maxx the Sock Monkey.  Anyhow, back before Maxx the Sock Monkey joined our family, it was just Sock Monkey.  Mellie loves Sock Monkey (BTW, she loves Maxx, too).  She will pick Sock Monkey (or Maxx) up and hug him and carry him around the house before dropping him like he's hot when she finds something fresh and interesting. 

So, one day, back before Mellie walked, when she only crawled (she got into JUST as much trouble), she was free-ranging in the living room (notice how I tied her back to the pets?  Ha ha!) and playing reasonably quietly, so we weren't worried.  This, obviously, was before we learned that the quieter she is, the more worried we should be.  But don't worry, we HAVE learned that.  Now.  Anyhow, this was back then.  I was sitting on the futon (I mean couch, because I am a home-owner, and no longer in college, and obviously am too established and mature to own a futon like I am still a starving college student.  Of course I don't own a futon, much less two.  That's just plain crazy.)  Anyhow, I was sitting on the COUCH, watching television when Mellie came up to me and wanted me to pick her up.  Being the fabulous mother that I am, I scooped her up only to discover that she was SOPPING wet.  Literally.  Like her clothes were sopping, her diaper was sopping, and upon further review (take in breath - inside joke, Ronnie will get it) I discovered a path of water puddles leading to her current position from -- you guessed it -- the dog's water bowl.

Now, this was not the first encounter she'd had with the water bowl.  She had long since decided it was her favorite toy.  So, again, being the fabulous mother I am, I grumbled (trying to hold her as far away as possible as to not get myself wet) and carried her upstairs (this was before she started crawling upstairs, or I probably would have made her go up herself).  I immediately stripped her, dried her with a towel, and put on a DRY diaper (note: to this day I have NEVER seen a diaper as full as that one was) and dry clothing, and came downstairs to clean up the mess before someone slipped (that tile is extremely slick when wet). 

Obviously, I cannot clean up the mess very well while holding Mellie, so I set her down.  I SHOULD have been suspicious when I put her down and it did not cause a meltdown.  But no, I was distracted.  As I am cleaning up the mess, Mellie is crawling by on her way into the laundry room for further trouble when I realize that I have underestimated both the extent of the mess as well as the cause.  She wasn't simply splashing in the water as she is prone to done.  No, I realized, as I looked at a poor, discolored, and SOGGY Sock Monkey.  She had decided SOCK MONKEY NEEDED A BATH!  And where else would you give him a bath but the WATER BOWL.  So, I picked up poor Sock Monkey, who was looking up at me with beseeching eyes screaming "Why do you hate me?  Why did you let her do this to me?" 

Fortunately, Sock Monkey is resilient, and washing machine safe.  :)  Unfortunately, Mellie had crawled through the mess again (hey, the tile is WHITE, how was I supposed to be able to tell?) and I had to take her upstairs and change her.  Again.  Interestingly, that was not her record for amount of needed clothing changes.  That was THIS weekend, but that is a story for another day.

Look forward to Mellie and the Water Bowl (Part 2), where I will explore the purpose of having such a low level of water in the bowl.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.....