Ah... The Exciting Life of the Mother of A Three-Year-Old

Not to give away the ending, but in this post you will learn three things.  1.)  I am slightly obsessive compulsive,  2.) My three year-old is not ready to use the restroom completely alone yet, and 3.) I can run pretty fast when needed, but not fast enough.

The other day A.J. told me he had to go potty.  Okay.  Great.  So I told him to call me when he was done and I would, forgive the bluntness, come wipe him off.  I swear, I was just across the hall in my office.  He's three.  I figured I didn't need to hover.  I even went and peeked in twice.  I guess I shouldn't have waited quite so long between the second and third peek. 

My big boy decided he had everything under control.  As I got to the bathroom door, he said, "I wiped myself!"  I was just in time to see a MASSIVE amount of toilet paper in the bowl and my son with his hand on the handle.  By the time I said, "Don't fl...", it was too late.  I was in mid-lunge as the water started to back up.  I grabbed A.J. (with his pants still around his ankles) and quickly tossed him out in the hallway.  Then I realized the plunger was in the other bathroom.  I sprinted to the master bath and back, only to see a half-inch of "water" covering the entire bathroom floor.  I think...think...that I only said, "Oh no" over and over again.  And considering A.J.'s favorite words haven't changed, I'm pretty sure that's correct.  (Thank you Lord!)

So, five LARGE beach towels and two socks later, the water was soaked up.  Here's where the slight OCD comes in.   Bathroom germs gross me out.  Big time.  I don't mess around with bathroom germs.  Just ask Mick what my reaction was when he used one of our new washcloths to put under the plunger when he pulled it out of the toilet.  It wasn't pretty.  I've washed the towels, socks, and, of course, that washcloth three times.  Twice with vinegar and Clorox 2.  I'm still considering throwing them out. 

Unfortunately, I can't throw out the bathroom.  So I spent the better part of a day cleaning.  After Googling the best method I've disinfected A.J.'s toys.  I cleaned the walls and baseboards.  (I stopped short of the ceiling, but I considered it.)  I cleaned the floor as Mary Rose taught me.  If you'd like to learn this method, you can refer to this post about my kitchen floor.  I scrubbed down the door.  I still don't feel like I got everything clean enough, but I ran out of Clorox Clean-up. 

I was able to turn this disaster around though because I'm also logical thinker.  It's a good thing my husband loves me.  So here comes the logic... Gross incident in the bathroom... it's all gotta go.  Rug.  Gone.  Shower curtain.  Gone.  Toothbrush holder.  Gone.  Cute-matchy-matchy wastebasket.  It was on the floor...what would you do?  You might be thinking that I was just looking for an excuse to change the decor of the bathroom.  You might be thinking that because we're still using the same bathroom decor that Mick had in his apartment before we got married seven and a half years ago that I was just reaching for a reason.  Okay, maybe.  But now A.J. has a cute and extremely clean alphabet themed bathroom...and so do our guests.