A Lesson in Soap

You know that old saying "fool me once"?  Well, apparently that one doesn't compute so well with 2 year olds.  Last night we deviated from the norm slightly.  Gina's step-dad was battling the flu bug so he was quarantined upstairs away from everybody else.  Of course, that's where the big bath tub is that we use for the girls, so we opted for a shower instead last night.  Now we've done showers with the girls before, so this isn't a first, but usually they're the really quick "in and out" type of showers saved for when we come home from something late or need to clean of some other unpleasantness.  Anyway, here's the deal: the girls wanted to hold the soap (adult soap, not the baby soap from their bath).  Gina told them to make sure they didn't get it in their eyes. ... so what they do?  Immediately rub their eye.  Genevieve starts screaming and clawing at her face.  Gina tries to rinse it out and Arianna copies the exact same move.  Gina starts rinsing Arianna and Genevieve picks up the soap and does it a second time.  Seriously?!  She drops it in horror and the screaming Arianna picks it up again, immediatly putting her resoaped fingers back in to her eyes. ... it's like they were determined to clean the insides of their eyelids or something.  I'm yelling at them to drop the soap (the exact opposite of prison advice) and Gina's trying to keep them from removing their eyeballs.  By the end of it Genevieve is combatively pushing the soap away from her and it keeps sliding back in her direction. ... taunting her. ... daring her as she pushes it away again, while Arianna just sits in a pile on the shower floor sobbing.  As I'm combing hair later, everyone is red eyed and their poor little faces are all marked up from their fingers and rubbing.  I'd like to say the lesson was learned. ... but I know it wasn't.  Next shower everyone is wearing swim goggles.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me. ... you can't get fooled again."

President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002