The 'O' Factor

Meet the 'O' factor -- what we call our dear fifth child, Owen:

Notice his angry look--usually his look of choice. You see, Owen has an agenda. An agenda of which we are not big fans of--so we are usually circumventing the agenda. Thus, the 'look' above is usually what you find upon his face. I have pics to prove it:

So last weekend I did my long run on Saturday morning. Eric was 'watching' the kids--when I came in from my run this is how I found him:

Glued to the TV, watching the all consuming Rider Cup. I asked 'where is Owen?' (about three times, before he heard me). He said, 'I'm not sure--I haven't heard him for a while'. Uh-Oh. Not a good sign. We found him sitting in the top bunkbed--a place he is not supposed to be--with his brother's tooth brush and toothpaste. He was trying really hard to get the toothpaste open and he had toothpaste all over his mouth from where he had licked it off the outside of the bottle (don't worry, it wasn't enough to poison him). Then I walked in my room, where I found my jewelry thrown all over the room (another 'O' factor specialty).

I think I sarcastically made some comment to Eric about maybe if he was watching Owen as intently as the Rider Cup this wouldn't have happened....so, a little bit later, Eric left to clean out the van (which I'm pretty sure was a 'front' to listen to the Rider Cup on the radio in private--I think I'm on to him) while I got 'ready'--you know, put on makeup, etc. Just down the hall, Jeremiah was in the bathtub playing. Suddenly, Joshua yells, 'Mom, come look what Owen, did!' Owen had found his way to the bathtub and had been filling a plastic container with water and dumping it out onto the floor umpteen times--while Jeremiah looked on. The water had leaked through the floor down to the first story--soaking the kitchen table and everything on it--including some of my most treasured books. The 'O' factor strikes again.

I thought about my sarcasm earlier--I think maybe I need to eat those words :)