Worst Day on Record
I thought last Friday was awful, and it was, but not in comparison to yesterday. Last Friday, Jonah was cranky for a good portion of the day for no particular reason, he was just having an off day. Then while I was attempting to cook dinner and watch Jonah at the same time, every time I turned around Jonah was right there, and I'd end up knocking him to the floor (luckily not on his head, just to his little knees); this happened no less than three times. Then as I was finishing up with Jonah's bath, he runs into the room where the desk is with a mat for the office chair to roll around on, promptly sits down on the mat and pees. Then as I'm picking him up to take him into the bathroom for a second bath and calling down to Josh to clean up the pee, Jonah, who had been splashing his hands in his own pee, smacks me in the face with a handful of the recently emitted liquid, at which I let out a very loud shriek of "NO!". But the straw that broke the camel's back that day was Josh coming into the room and proceeding to lecture me on how I should stay calm because Jonah doesn't understand why I'm yelling. Not a good time to lecture, Josh. For one I was already calmed down, and second, it was a perfectly natural reaction to scream when you have pee slapped in your face; I really could not have done anything diffeent. Needless to say, I let Josh have it right then and there. I was not a happy camper.
Well, the next several days were fine and dandy. Then yesterday happened.
The morning was going great. Jonah and I had had breakfast and gotten dressed for the day. I was planning on taking him out to the park later in the mroning when it warmed up a bit more and had decided to try taking care of what should have been a simple household task beforehand. Normally, I would wait until Jonah is napping to do any housework, but I thought that since this task would only take 15 or 20 minutes, I could attempt it while he was still awake; I figured he could just follow me around and play while I did what I needed to do. The task was cleaning the hardwood furniture with some Murphy's oil soap, which I had in a bucket that I was trying valiantly to keep out of Jonah's reach. So, in preparation of cleaning his dresser, I had put a number of lotion bottles and other items on the floor. At this point, he can't open any bottles of flip any caps or anything like that, so I thought I was safe leaving them on the floor for just a moment (I know they'll all have to go elsewhere later on), but I underestimated the Vaseline container. I turn my back for an instant and almost immediately hear gooping noises. I turn back around, and Jonah's whole hand is dipped in Vaseline. I think it took a good 10 or 15 mintues for me to completely wash the stuff off both his hands and mine; that stuff really clings to the skin when it's in vast quantities! Okay, so this should have been my first tip that my idea was not a good one. But no, I go on cleaning. So, while we're downstairs, I set the bucket on top of the couch, the only place I could think of that (I thought) would be high enough where Jonah couldn't get his hands into it but I could still get mine into it. Well, he didn't get his hands into it, but he did manage to reach the lip of the bucket and pull the whole thing down, spilling Murphy's oil soap all over the floor and making a large wet splotch on the sofa. I immediately grabbed Jonah, who was standing in a puddle of soap, away from the crime scene, took off his shirt, which had a large wet spot on the sleeve, so that he couldn't start sucking on soap, and put him behind the baby gate. Then I went and grabbed a bunch of towels from upstairs, began mopping up the vast amount of fluid on the floor, took off the cushion covers, placed the cushions on a blanket out on the deck so they could dry in the sun (Note: I brought them in last night, and they still aren't dry even now on Friday night), threw the sopping wet towels and the covers in the washing machine, washed both me and Joanh, and changed both our clothes. And I am bawling almost the entire time. I wasn't mad at Joanh because I know it's not really his fault, and he simply didn't know any better. I was just upset with the whole situation. Anyway, we still managed to make it out, but now it was mainly because I just needed to get out of the house and walk off some of the stress. We went to the park, and then I treated us both to a western omelette and French fries at Amphora for lunch (I also splurged on a chocolate milkshake - I needed the calories and the pick-me-up).
Lesson learned; no more cleaning until Jonah is asleep. At least not until he's older and I can occasionally just plop him in front of the TV for a half hour while I take care of something that involves chemicals.
I hope to not have another day like that again. Here's hoping.
Well, the next several days were fine and dandy. Then yesterday happened.
The morning was going great. Jonah and I had had breakfast and gotten dressed for the day. I was planning on taking him out to the park later in the mroning when it warmed up a bit more and had decided to try taking care of what should have been a simple household task beforehand. Normally, I would wait until Jonah is napping to do any housework, but I thought that since this task would only take 15 or 20 minutes, I could attempt it while he was still awake; I figured he could just follow me around and play while I did what I needed to do. The task was cleaning the hardwood furniture with some Murphy's oil soap, which I had in a bucket that I was trying valiantly to keep out of Jonah's reach. So, in preparation of cleaning his dresser, I had put a number of lotion bottles and other items on the floor. At this point, he can't open any bottles of flip any caps or anything like that, so I thought I was safe leaving them on the floor for just a moment (I know they'll all have to go elsewhere later on), but I underestimated the Vaseline container. I turn my back for an instant and almost immediately hear gooping noises. I turn back around, and Jonah's whole hand is dipped in Vaseline. I think it took a good 10 or 15 mintues for me to completely wash the stuff off both his hands and mine; that stuff really clings to the skin when it's in vast quantities! Okay, so this should have been my first tip that my idea was not a good one. But no, I go on cleaning. So, while we're downstairs, I set the bucket on top of the couch, the only place I could think of that (I thought) would be high enough where Jonah couldn't get his hands into it but I could still get mine into it. Well, he didn't get his hands into it, but he did manage to reach the lip of the bucket and pull the whole thing down, spilling Murphy's oil soap all over the floor and making a large wet splotch on the sofa. I immediately grabbed Jonah, who was standing in a puddle of soap, away from the crime scene, took off his shirt, which had a large wet spot on the sleeve, so that he couldn't start sucking on soap, and put him behind the baby gate. Then I went and grabbed a bunch of towels from upstairs, began mopping up the vast amount of fluid on the floor, took off the cushion covers, placed the cushions on a blanket out on the deck so they could dry in the sun (Note: I brought them in last night, and they still aren't dry even now on Friday night), threw the sopping wet towels and the covers in the washing machine, washed both me and Joanh, and changed both our clothes. And I am bawling almost the entire time. I wasn't mad at Joanh because I know it's not really his fault, and he simply didn't know any better. I was just upset with the whole situation. Anyway, we still managed to make it out, but now it was mainly because I just needed to get out of the house and walk off some of the stress. We went to the park, and then I treated us both to a western omelette and French fries at Amphora for lunch (I also splurged on a chocolate milkshake - I needed the calories and the pick-me-up).
Lesson learned; no more cleaning until Jonah is asleep. At least not until he's older and I can occasionally just plop him in front of the TV for a half hour while I take care of something that involves chemicals.
I hope to not have another day like that again. Here's hoping.
posted by Cathy at 8:26 PM
2 Comments:
I've been there (except for actually trying to clean stuff ;) )
FWIW, I think I'm getting a little better at maintaining perspective and self-control. Stuff Isaac does that used to make me nuts when Jay did it doesn't set me off the same way. But I think I'm also better with Jay. Don't know why: maybe you need to add to the family ;) or maybe it's just the passage of time/ inurement to this whole parenthood thing.
Oh, and I've had Paul say more-or-less the same thing. In retrospect, perhaps I should have responded, "Well, I don't know why he's biting me, either, so I guess that makes us even!"
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