Accidents happen

When we started to seriously try to get Eli to sit on his potty, we offered him his portable DVD player and his Elmo Potty video. A big hit! He watched it multiple times and learned all the songs, including one called "Accidents Happen (and that's OK!)"

We use the phrase a lot -- for potty accidents, but also for other kinds of accidents. Like the one that happens weekly around here: spilling juice across the table.

But the other day, Eli pulled it out at exactly the right moment.

I was putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, Michael was at the stove finishing preparing a yummy omelet breakfast and Eli was eating some fruit in the dining room.

I put two large glass containers precariously on the top shelf of our cabinet and turned away. They (predictably) fell, landing on two glasses of orange juice on the counter. All four glass products shattered into billions of shards of glass — all over the clean dishes in the dishwasher, the sink, the omelet, the floor, the moon, etc etc.

Michael sent me in to the dining room to watch Eli, who was VERY curious about the whole event and wanted to wade barefoot through the wreakage. I sat down at the dining room table with him, and he asked me multiple times what happened.

Then he put his little hand on my arm and said, "Accidents happen, Mama. It's OK."

Instead of crying, I started laughing. Perfect timing, Eli!