First Blood (War of the Fishies)

Last night Michael took a bath, because as usual he was filthy from playing in the dirt with the next door neighbor boys. Andrea asked me nicely if I could watch Michael while she got something to eat. She had been working late, and so we didn't really have any organized dinner of any sort. While Andrea was in the kitchen, I asked Michael if he wanted his boat, which is usually required to be in the bathtub for play time. Inside this boat are fishies and ducks along with a few cups. Michael likes playing with the fishies, and over the course of time, we ended up having a fishy war -- complete with sound effects. You could almost hear the "metal" of the "swords" clanking. Fortunately, for both of us, they were very blunt plastic fish, but we still had fun. The fish fought above the water, below the water, and where ever Michael decided he wanted to go with his fishy (in the constrains of the tub of course). We even had a demonstration for Mommy once she came into the bathroom. In retrospect, coming into the bathroom was probably a mistake, because her sandwich was soon commandeered by my opponent who took a snack break after every couple of hits. He did prove to multi-task quite efficiently though while chewing and viciously fighting off his opponent (me). The first blood was not drawn until the fishies had been retired, and the grime of battle was being washed off his face with a washcloth. Not content for the battle to be over, and completely without his "sword", he saw an opportunity to strike, and without a moment's hesitation, proceeded to "finish off" the opposition with a much sharper weapon (his teeth). In the heat of renewed battle he was puzzled by the sudden shriek that filled the air, and even more so by the sharp admonishment of "Michael, you don't bite!" that followed, in a voice that sounded just like Mommy when she was angry. The bath promptly ended and Michael was wisked out of the tub and into a towel so that he could properly apologize for his unsportsmanlike conduct. In a genuinely chivalrous gesture, Michael insisted on helping Mommy tend to the wounded appendage, (unfortunately, the spiderman bandages had been depleted) and once the wound was properly bandaged, he promptly kissed the injured finger as further evidence of a contrite heart.