The Bubble Bucket Saga

Kids love bubbles, but bubbles can be messy. But wait! Someone invented the no-spill bubble bucket, and it actually does work pretty well. So, I went ahead and got one, to the delight of the kids. Our new daily ritual goes like this:

My two-year-old brings me the bucket and asks for more bubbles. I drain out the dregs from the previous day and wash and dry the bucket before filling it again. I then return the bucket to my happy (for now) two-year-old. The bucket has three bubble wands with it, which logically should make for a happy crew all around; there's just that little bit about them fighting over who gets to hold the bucket. After about an hour or so of semi-contented bubble time, one of the two-year-olds brings the bucket back for more juice. Alas, though, the bucket is still quite full; the problem is that they have foamed up the bubble juice by overly aggressive wand dipping to the point that the bubbles won't come anymore until the foam dissipates. Unfortunately, they haven't figured this out yet, and so there is much rage when I refuse to refill the bucket.

The two-year-old rage ultimately pays off, though, for the five-year-old and the one-year-old. Big sister finds the bucket again later when the juice has de-foamed and blows bubbles to amuse the others. When she's tired of it, little brother finds it and gets his turn, since it has lost its novelty for the others by then. All in all, not a bad system. It starts all over again in the morning, with the bucket as intriguing as ever to the two-year-olds. The rage phase is all right in the end, for the fun that comes from watching the baby enjoy the bucket in the afternoon. Hooray for bubbles!