Double the Trouble - Messes and Rubble

This past weekend was my "drill" weekend. Its the weekend that really isn't a weekend for me. I was elated to get home and enjoy a little relaxing time with them. Little did I know, or any of us for that matter, what we were up against and the messes that would follow.

I walked in the door to find Caleb fast asleep and burning up with a furious fever under a blanket. He woke for brief periods to talk to us and Aunt Marla who was visiting and over for dinner. Other than that he was out like a light for most of the evening. After he woke again, before heading to bed, his temperature continued to rise and he felt like he came straight from the suana. He was complaining of an upset stomach and didn't feel like eating a whole lot. Out of nowhere I realized that he needed to throw up. We raced from the family room into the kitchen where we managed to make it to the sink so he could take care of his business. After the incident his fever started to break and he was feeling a bit more like his old self again. The only thing that bothered him was the unpleasantness of his stomach's upheaval.

Shortly after that he decided it was bedtime. For one who likes to stay up as late as possible it was great to hear him say it was time to go to sleep much earlier than usual. I ended up changing the little stinker into his pullups downstairs and got him some apple juice for his sippy cup. We both affectionally ran up the stairs chasing and teasing one another. As we reached the top of the stairs I immediately knew something was wrong with Katie. We went into the master bedroom and found her leaning over the bathroom sink having tummy problems of her own. She ended up getting her B6 vitamin lodged in her throat and she had the same sudden disaster that Caleb had just a bit earlier. She was alright and just needed to really catch her breath by the time we arrived.

As the two of them crawled into bed I was left with the task of cleaning up another icky mess. I went downstairs, grabbed a plastic grocery bag and some paper towels and went to work. I was able to soak a lot of the liquid out of the sink but everything else managed to clog the sink. After I returned from a panicky rush down the stairs and out to the garbage can with everything in hand, Katie told me the little conversation that had transpired while I was outside. It went sort of like this:

Caleb: "Where is Daddy going?"

Mommy: "He's going to apply for sainthood."

Caleb: "At the garbage can?"

We couldn't stop laughing for the next little bit after that. Thankfully, in the end, we all slept soundly that night after all the aftermath of those events. Before we went to sleep though I had noticed water in the garbage can in the guest bathroom. I asked Katie what had happened and how it got there. She shrugged her shoulders and pointed at Caleb and laughingly said, "Ask him." I did just that and here's the response that followed...

Daddy: "Caleb, why is there water in the garbage can in the guest bathroom?"

Caleb: "Because Dezi was thirsty and needed a drink of water so I filled it up for her."

Another memory to fall asleep laughing to. Especially knowing that Dezi, the dog, does not have a neck like a giraffe which is what she would've needed to get the water at the bottom of that can.

To top it all off I went and bought Maximum Strength Drano at the store yesterday and cleaned up the leftovers in the sink and unclogged it too. Pretty disgusting things that had to be done by all of us... either throwing up or cleaning up the mess but plenty of memories and laughs had to always remember that Sunday night.

Mr. Clean - Age 3

For anyone that knows our little man, he is a very sweet and kind hearted kid. He has a wonderful trait in him that will be useful, hoping he holds onto it, in the future. He loves going around the house to find things that he can clean all by himself. Yesterday was one of those days...

Earlier in the day I found him in the bathtub with a Clorox wipe trying to clean up after one of his messier/dirtier baths. When I found him he was singing a song to himself with toilet paper in one hand and a Clorox wipe in the other. What worried me is that I saw him playing with some of the chemical sprays/cleaners we use around the house. After we cleaned the bathroom up I told him that he couldn't use those cleaners because it could affect him in negative ways and do him harm. That sunk in... for the next five minutes. *sigh* What do you do with a self-propelled three year old trying to do his best to help clean up around the house?

For the next few hours he was appeased by hanging out with his mom, dad and dingy dog. We watched television and played around finding ways to keep each other constantly entertained. Constant wasn't the right word after a while. Caleb grew tired and went to watch Caillou on the computer and, later, sneakily snuck up the stairs to wreck havoc on the house again... unbeknownst to us.

Suddenly Katie calls from upstairs as I hear a child running down the hall with the loud *thump thump* that his feet make when he's off in a huge hurry. What I found next didn't make me too happy but I still find him the biggest sweetheart for doing his best, with his know how, to clean up. He had opened one of the spray bottles, Carpet Resolve for Pet Stains, and tried cleaning the stairs. Before he used it it was nearly full. When I got hold of it the bottle was completely empty and I felt like I was walking through the best smelling swampland in the world. The stairwell and upstairs smelled great. The only problem was taking the Bissell to the carpet and cleaning up the spilled contents for the next 15 or so minutes while Caleb and mommy had a talk at the top of the stairs. There was a huge puddle of spilled content on every step that I had to clean up. Good times. What made it all memorable is what Caleb said to his mommy before she called me to let me know what had happened.

Katie saw what Caleb was doing when she went up the stairs and said, "Caleb, what are you doing?" Remembering the earlier conversation between himself and daddy his eyes opened wide, he dropped the empty spray bottle and as he ran into the nursery to hide he was heard saying...

"I have to go hide now!"

What a little goober. I hope these cleaning tendencies continue on as he gets older. He'll be a great asset around the house... but he's a great asset even now too. =)