Magic Erasers: Yes, They Are

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are a fine example of marketing at its shining best. Gleaming, in fact. Not at all dissimilar to the walls I spent two hours scrubbing today with this product. My spirit is soaring, my heart is rejoicing, at the transformation!  

Never mind the fact that I won't be able to move tomorrow morning after the gymnastics involved in scrubbing the walls and baseboards up and down our stairs. It was totally worth skipping lunch and a shower in order to suck the marrow out of naptime for this project. The C and D in OCD stand for Carpe Diem, right?

So you want to see before and after photos, I just know it. To those who share in the OCD: brace yourselves, this will not help your condition. In fact, the following photos may induce compulsive purchase of cleaning products including, but not limited to, bulk packages of Magic Erasers. The following took four Extra Power Magic Erasers, and I will need the other two of my first half-dozen to finish the upstairs hallway. The lighting isn't great; you can see the worst marks, but not the smudges that were over most of the lower walls.

Top of the stairs at the landing: 

Bottom of stairs going up from the landing: 

Corner hallway going to our room:  

Outside our bedroom door: 

Pro tip: If these don't impress you, then you might need to clean your computer screen. Watch for marks that don't move as you scroll up and down; those are filth on your screen, not on my walls. Not that I learned the hard way while uploading these. 

Next project: All the other walls, door and window  frames, doors, and baseboards in the house. I'm guessing the previous residents had a child about two and a half feet tall and perhaps a pet or two. Which I am not judging at all, because I can see this being a regular part of spring (or fall, really) cleaning when Mikayla and Isaac are big enough to play outside all summer!

It's Pot-tay Tiiiime

I've discovered this condition in which perfectly rational people experience transient dementia states, triggered by typically unremarkable bodily functions. I know this because three hours ago, I squealed in absolute delight as my 19 month old daughter delivered poopoo into the potty instead of her diaper. I repeatedly sang the syllables "pee pee" and "poo poo" as we jumped around, and then we jointly made a mess of a white chip chocolate coconut cookie to celebrate.

Had you told me two years ago that I would have this reaction to my child's first potty experience, I would have kindly recommended a Seroquel for those delusions. I'm sure I would have expected some kind of consistent reward system involving skittles or, preferably, whole-grain crackers, to instill a deep love of pottying in my children. And the hearty congratulatory hug and "atta girl!"

But the monkey shenanigans? And reducing myself to monosyllabic nonsense?

I smack my forehead. But it was worth it to see the joy in her little face as she realized she was doing it and her momma was so proud of her! We giggled as we re-dressed her and shared our cookie. Throughout the morning she said, "potty!" with a big smile and pointed in the general direction of the blue bathroom. Yes, darling, behold your new throne!

I'd be lying if I said my joy was purely due to parental pride, though. In my mind, I am already celebrating the end of one child in diapers. As I wiped her hiney, I tried to remember which bin has room to put away her cloth diapers. I made a mental note to pull out the little training undies I have somewhere. Because going potty one time is practically the same as bladder and bowel mastery, no?

In the mind of this momma, who changes roughly 13 diapers daily (huh....it feels like a lot more...), cutting that figure in half can't come soon enough. And the hope of that day is plenty reason to celebrate like a dingbat.

The Chunky Monkey Eats! (So does her little brother)

Technically, Isaac's first cereal meal was last week when we were on vacation with Joel's family. It was very exciting, and he did fantastically with the spoon and ate a few tablespoons of rice cereal. Everybody clapped, tears were shed, etc. etc. However, because I don't have any photographic evidence of that precious event, we recreated his first meal today. And by "we", I mean Mikayla and me. She was ALL about showing Isaac his high chair, putting his bib on him, and then "helping" him with his spoon.

It was all well and good until I discovered raisins in the rice cereal.  I guess we can't blame a helpful big sister for wanting to share her favorite foods with her baby brother. But I did start to look more carefully at the spoon before popping it into Isaac's mouth!

This was such a neat little time for all of us, so I grabbed my phone and caught a few pictures. A video is forthcoming, as soon as I upload it. Incidentally, I bought myself a few minutes to write this post by allowing Mikayla to watch the video repeatedly on my phone. I'm even letting her hold the phone. Momma magic!

  So excited to eat with her little brother!

 As Mikayla would say, Isaac is ready to "eat!" because he's wearing his "beeb!"

"Bowl, Ikey, more!"

Isaac was just amazingly chill through the whole experience. He is already showing good progress in slurping food off of his spoon and swallowing it easily, even a slightly thicker puree. He didn't cry or show much of any emotion, even when Mikayla poked his empty spoon repeatedly into his mouth.  He did, however, giggle at her as she did tricks with her sippy cup and crackers. It was something of a guessing game to determine when he was finished. No spitting up, and he had a great nap after breakfast this morning, so I think he enjoys having a fuller belly!

Now off to rescue my phone from toddler hands, and to put Isaac down for an afternoon nap where he will no doubt spend the first twenty minutes doing acrobatics in his crib. What a roller! And he is SO close to sitting up - he is fairly stable, but slumps forward.

Thinking back to last summer, I can't help but think...isn't this about when I was announcing another pregnancy? Six month old baby, just starting to sit and eat...what are we waiting for? My goodness. I don't think I even realized at the time just how crazy that was.  But our cup is so full with these precious little ones who so obviously LOVE each other! Speaking of whom...gotta run!