...my child sold your honor student the answers to the test...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Lessons in House Cleaning

With Xavier heading back to school after a 3 week vacation (hang on let me do my happy dance again...... OK I'm done) I decided yesterday to get back into my official routine. Since we moved here I have made Mondays my day to clean. I figure if I can get everything done in one day I've got the rest of the week to goof off guilt free. So Mondays I gather up all the laundry and while it's washing clean bathrooms, organize toys, sweep or vacuum, and of course at the end, mop my hardwood floors.

After working my butt off and coming to my final chore I realized I was running out of floor cleaner. I use the Swiffer Wet Jet mop, which is fantastic for my first floor hardwood. I was only halfway through the living room floor when the Swiffer started to whine and I noticed no more cleaner was coming out. Frustrated that I only had half the chocolate milk stains mopped up I ran into the laundry room, where I keep all the cleaner stuff, and pondered what I could use. Resolve? Nope. Laundry detergent? Uh uh. Let's see, lets see, what can I use? I noticed, way in the back, behind everything, a can of Pledge. I don't know why I bought it as I never use it. We don't have anything to use it on really. Sometimes though I see cleaners that I think may come in handy while at the store and just grab them. This can of pledge was one of those purchases. I think I used it twice on our TV stand then forgot about it. But Pledge is specifically for wood and gives a nice shine so I thought Why not?

Applauding myself for being so smart I started spraying down the floor and cleaning away. I managed to do the other half of the living room plus the hallway and kitchen before I deemed myself done. The floors looked, well they looked great! I never realized how shiny they could look. I decided then and there to use Pledge more often. See, it was a good thing I bought the can months ago!

About 30 minutes later I realized why Pledge is not used for cleaning floors. Ashe had to go to the bathroom. He is in the middle of potty training, and sometimes when he is so involved in whatever activity has his fancy he doesn't realize he has to go until it's an emergency. At some point in time it dawned on him that he had to go potty. Racing to the bathroom door, yelling "I HAVE TO GO POTTY I HAVE TO GO POTTY NOW!!!" I watched in slow motion as he tried to stop at the bathroom door but because of the nice shiny (and now I realized slippery) floor he went sliding past and continued until his little body hit the front door, 5 feet away.

OK I'm not always a good mom. Good moms would have raced over in terror making sure their baby wasn't hurt. They would have sat down grabbed their precious child and checked every inch of their body to ensure no dents or scratches were to be found. Me, on the other hand, after staring in shock with my jaw reaching the floor at such antics whispered "Are you OK honey?" to which he responded "YEAH MOMMY" and then I doubled up over in a fit of laughter. Man, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I can not describe well enough for you, my readers, to understand just how funny this little scene was, a 2 yr old boy in pure panic over having an accident in his pants, reaching for the door knob, only to go sailing past, little feet scrambling for purchase. The look of confusion on his face as he kept sliding sideways, trying to grab purchase of anything to stop, only to thunk into the front door.

It happened 2 more times before it really dawned on me that it was the Pledge I used on the floors to make this situation happen. On the third time I finally decided I had had enough entertainment at my toddlers expense and looked around for something to take away the slippery component. I settled on Windex and a towel. I sprayed the floor and skated around until my floors no longer resembled an ice rink and decided no matter how funny watching my boys slip and slide around the house was, it could be potentially dangerous.

So I have learned a new lesson. When you run out of your mop cleaner, while Pledge may seem like the way to go, it's not. But it does make for some funny moments.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is hilarious! How early does one start pottytraining? My husband seems to think our 13 month old is old enough...

SRM said...

Honestly it depends on the child and each time you potty train it's different. Xavier learned at age 2 and was trained in 3 days. Ashe started at 2.5 and it's been onwards of 2 months. Best way to go about deciding if your kid is ready to be trained is if they show signs of interest, follow you to the bathroom, talk about poop and pee, ask questions, and shows an interest in playing with the toilet =D

Julie said...

I used Pledge once several years ago and I was the one that ended up on the floor! Definitely not a good idea for cleaning floors - but pretty funny when it's someone else sliding by!