From March 16, 2006
Classic parenting lesson: When the children are unnaturally quiet for
extended periods of time, ALWAYS investigate.
What a lovely morning. 8am and the girls were still asleep! Usually
they were up by 6:30, but today, not a peep from their room, and even
Satchmo was sleeping soundly on a blanket in the living room. Instead
of going upstairs to wake them up, I sat peacefully in the silence,
sipping a cup of coffee, enjoying the rare chance to drink it hot.
From the baby monitor I detected some giggles. The girls often awoke
cheerful, laughing at each other and making a game of tossing stuffed
animals out of their cribs. I downed the rest of my coffee and headed
upstairs. As I reached the second floor, the smell hit me first.
Unmistakeable. Man, those must be some really dirty diapers! But when
I entered their room, I actually had to back out and close the door. I
needed to collect myself for a few minutes before going in to address
the situation.
We know Lou loves to color. Regardless of the medium, crayons, chalk,
or spaghetti sauce, she just loves to color. She is also learning to
take her clothes off all by herself. I entered that room to see Lou
bouncing up and down in her crib, squealing with joy at seeing me,
stark naked and covered head to toe (hair included)… in poop. Not only
that, but she had drawn some beautiful pictures on the wall, stuccoed
the slats of her crib, and flung the rest across the room, including
into JuneBug’s crib. Bug proceeded to copy her sister as best she
could (as she always does), by grinding it into her pajamas and onto
her crib. The floor was littered with the carnage: sheets, pillows,
stuffed animals, GloWorms, Lambie and Duckie… all streaked with the
same dark brown that was dried on every inch of my daughter’s skin.
I tiptoed through the minefield of nuggets strewn across the carpet to
retrieve my children. Without a word, I placed them in the bathtub and
started the water running. They shrieked happily – a bath last night
and another this morning, what luck! I peeked back into their room,
surveying the damage and trying to plan my attack. I would have to
start with the floor, then put everything into the washing machine
with very hot water…. Looking over it all, I had to smile. From Lou’s
point of view, the fun was obvious. If it had been play-doh it would
have been delightful entertainment, and of course she didn’t know the
difference. She was bored in her crib with nothing else to do, so from
a developmental standpoint it was very creative expression. As I
soaped down her chubby little body in the tub once, twice, and three
times (just to be sure), I decided that Lou was only going to be two
once, and I was going to enjoy it. Carpets can be cleaned, sheets and
stuffed animals can be washed, and walls can be scrubbed. Twenty-five years
from now I will tell this story to her husband with tears of
laughter in my eyes, so why not laugh about it now?
Posted on January 7th, 2007 by Dove
Filed under: Kids
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