Potty Poker

I've solved a bit of an ongoing mystery at Casa Lachen. Without benefit of the Mystery Machine or even a box of Scooby snacks.

In the last few weeks, I had been misplacing Copper. It was not that I'd just set him down and forgetten where I'd left my dear, sweet husband, like a lost TV remote. But rather that he seemed to be disappearing for random 30-45 minute intervals of time. Unexpectedly, and under the radar. I would turn around and he'd be gone.

Odd.

Yes, I considered the obvious possibilities. But I concluded that my Family Room is nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle and that Hermoine Granger's time turner must only work inside the confines of the Rowling-inspired wizarding world.

This past Saturday, after two such disappearing episodes, I decided to deliberately avoid becoming distracted by my mothering/household duties and to actually SEARCH for said lost husband the next time I noticed his conspicuously long absence. Novel concept, I realize.

At 4:00 pm, the opportunity presented itself. After coming in from the garden and being unable to locate Copper with a visual scan at the door, I gathered JoyBoy and LaLa and popped a Jay-Jay-The-Jet-Plane video into the DVD to occupy them (because this could take awhile) and picked up a cold Dr. Pepper out of the fridge (because this could take awhile and just because).

I began upstairs and searched our house thoroughly. I found a pair of earrings I thought I'd lost forever, and a ripe banana dressed in doll clothes in LaLa room's, but no Copper. As I descended the stairs, I cracked open my Dr. Pepper and had barely made a dent in it when I found him.

In the bathroom.

Sitting on the toilet.

But not actually USING the toilet, at least not in the traditionally accepted, conventional manner.

Rather, he was nonchalantly lounging on the potty with his pants around his ankles and his laptop in his lap, playing online poker at PartyPoker.com.

I love this man.

But the jig is finally up. Fred, Daphne and the gang would have been proud. Generally, potty distractions come in the form of reading material (AKA magazines and books that amply stock our bathrooms). But those archaic forms of bathroom entertainment are just not working for my sassy husband these days, it seems. Yes, my beloved Copper has apparently been engaging in our shared passion for poker in a rather oddball way. His unique style of online Texas Hold'Em play is now fondly known at our house as POTTY POKER.