I immediately sought out the most obvious suspect - Claire. When I asked her whether she was responsible, she promptly admitted culpability. She could barely keep the grin off her face as she realized her prank (which she'd read about in a book and deemed "hilarious") had been successful. I calmly discussed why the trick wasn't actually a great idea: "What if I'd been getting ready to leave for an important meeting and had to go back to change my clothes and then I was late? What if I'd been wearing a silk blouse that couldn't get wet?" She ruefully claimed to to see the error of her ways; I was pleased with my calm and effective handling of the situation. Until about two days later, when I learned about this conversation:
Claire: "Hey, Lindsay, I read this thing called 'take a shower' in a book and I tried it. It's where you put a rubber band on the spray part of the sink then sit back and watch someone turn it on."
Lindsay (our super-nanny): "How'd that work out for you?"
Claire: "Mission accomplished. Mom . . . got . . . soaked!!"
Lindsay (trying not to laugh): "Hmm. I'm not sure that was such a good idea - I think Mom is the last person you'd want to have get mad at you."
Claire: "But it was extremely successful - although she was mad."
Lindsay: [silence]
Claire: "And, wait until you see the next prank - it's going to be even better."
(And note that I'm not even getting into the fact that both my nanny and my husband thought that this whole incident was, in fact, hilarious.)
