Boys will be boys

Following is a post I made about 8mos ago to a message board group I’ve been a member of for over 5 years (Shout out to the April Bellies!!). Judging from what I found in Al’s room this week, it’s still very relevant:

A warning for when your sons get older.
Y'all, Al is driving me crazy. Be prepared. Your turn is coming. Get rid of all your Tupperware, cups, Ziplocs, hairspray/mousse lids, really ANYTHING that can hold water. The water "experiments" you will find in the bathroom are truly mind-boggling. Telling your child to stop the water experiments is futile. You'll only repeat that sentence every other day for years. Making the child clean up the mess doesn't stop them either, and only agitates you when you find they didn't "clean up the mess," but instead they merely pour the water out of the cup, or pull the plug out of the sink and walk away leaving everything on the counter. In the past experiments, Al has learned:

• The paint on a Matchbox car does not get soggy or turn the water colors. Or at least not black, blue, red or silver paint. I'm sure we'll answer the question of other colors at another time.
• Crayons do get soggy and turn the water colors.
• Legos don't get get soggy.
• Some boats built with Legos will float, others sink quickly, while some take on a little water but float anyway. Al has tested many, many Lego configurations.
• Mom really did know what she was saying when she said that paper Dixie cups will start to leak after a little while.
• So do McDonald's cups.
• The paper cup does not absorb all the water that was in the cup.
• Rocks are still rocks, even after soaking for days. Why he REPEATEDLY tries this experiment is beyond me.
• Soaking rocks with "shiny crystals" inside them does not make the shiny crystals grow.
• Army men will EVENTUALLY get a little mushy on the outside.
• Army men float.
• Even when you wrap them in Kleenex and Scotch tape.
• This week, we learned that silver marbles will rust.