Magical Water

Laura Rowe Photography

There is the most peculiar 5 year old living here. Autumn is what you would call, a character.

She is rambunctious, clever, sneaky, and full of laughs. She loves to be tickled, she loves to play "lizard tongue" (that's where she chasing you around sticking out her tongue threatening to bite you,) and she loves to talk about vampires.

One thing she does not love - water. Or rather, drinking it.

Last night, I picked up a really large bottle of Smart Water. You know the one, it claims to have extra electrolytes. Well, I proceed to drink from it, and asks me, "Auntie Cole, what's that?"

I took a quick moment and thought, well, it's a big bottle, perhaps I could get her to drink some.

"It's my Magic Water." I point to the label (which she can't read yet) and said, "See, it says - m-a-g-i-c water."

"Really?" she replied in a skeptical voice.

"Oh sure, if you drink from it, when you and I talk, only you and I can hear each other."

"Oh.. gimme some!" I hand her the bottle and just realized how little kids drink from bottle. She put both lips around the bottle and left a trail of saliva from the bottle to her mouth. Gross.

So, I told her to go get a clean cup, and we would see what other spells we could conjure up.

She immediately got her new 'Puss N Boots' cup and we would now pretend that the next glass of water would make us speak jibberish to others, but we would understand each other. She drank it down, (miracle in and of itself) and she turned to my sister, who happened to be listening... and of course, Heather played along.

That tickled Autumn.

She then turned to me for another glass (it was a REALLY big bottle, and she had a small cup.) I said, okay, this one will make us turn purple, we won't see it, but everyone else will.) She drinks the cup of water and of course Heather plays along and begs us to remove the spell.

So we have to drink another glass to remove the spell, but Heather threw a twist in there, when she saw Autumn, she decided to pretend she was turning green and that we should rush her to the hospital. Autumn is rolling in laughter now.. she simply can't believe it... she could barely breathe. Then she came rushing back to me to do one more spell, she wanted to turn purple again. I told her, "Oh no.. we are out." She looked at the bottle and saw the little bit that is in the bottom. I simply don't drink the yuck at the bottom, realizing it is mostly backwash and all. Then I decided to play a joke and say, "Oh Autumn, the last bit is a mix of all the spells. Something dangerous could happen - like it could make someone into a lizard tongue."

She decided to take the water and she rushed into the other room, where my dad was and he was unaware of what is going on. She begged him to take a swallow and told him it would be crazy.. then for fun, he made a noise and stuck his tongue out at her. Which in her little mind he turned into the lizard tongue man. She SCREAMED.. and came running crying to her mom, saying her 'Poppy' had a lizard tongue and was terrified.

I took the moment to teach her a little lesson..

"See Autumn, that's why I don't drink that last little sip."

Ha ha... oh.. magical water.