He did WHAT?

So we met another couple and their daughter for dinner at a local family-friendly dinner spot. The expansive sandbox (complete with buckets, shovels and dump trucks) and playscape make this a popular place for families with young kids on a Friday night.

The heat was unbearable yesterday, so instead of sitting at the picnic tables outside, we opted for the air-conditioned indoors. Nye and Cal were fussy and could not sit still, so I decided to take them outside to burn off some energy until our food arrived. Jesse brought 11-month-old Abigail along too.

Since Cal thinks he's much bigger than he is, I stayed close to him on the playscape and let Nye do his own thing (OK, so I wasn't really watching him). After a few minutes, I heard someone call my name in a low, discreet voice. It was Jesse. I looked over to see him holding his sweet Abigail and laughing at something going on next to him. I couldn't see what he was laughing at so I leaned over to get a good look. Apparently, everyone was getting a good look.

I was mortified to see my 3 and one-half-year-old son with his shorts and Thomas-the-Tank-Engine underwear bunched around his ankles, standing at the edge of the sandbox peeing into one of the little measuring cups the kids use to scoop up sand. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was so embarrassed (and was laughing too hard to regain my composure in front of him) that I just looked the other way and continued supervising Cal.

Either the cup became too full or he threw it down and decided to aim toward the sand, but by the time I looked up again, Nye was running back to our table inside the restaurant. The evidence was still there, of course: a wet cup thrown aside and a little patch of sand that had been dabbled with pee. I still couldn't compose myself (there's no way I can recapture the scene in this post), but I did retrieve the cup and deposit it in a garbage can and kicked dry sand over the spot.

As I walked toward the scene of the crime - and essentially announced to the world that -- yes, that was MY son, a little girl on the playscape (about 4 years-old) asked, "Why did he do that?" Jesse said a waitress witnessed the whole thing as said she was laughing so hard she was about to pee HER pants. I hope that instead of grossing people out, Nye provided a little levity to everyone's night.

The picture here is of Nye engaged in the act at his uncle Rob's house (at least he didn't go in the pool!).