Baking Soda x 2

Two times in two days, baking soda has been a lifesaver.

Yesterday, Max had a new friend over for a playdate.  Things were great for about the first 45 minutes as the two had their imaginary fights and battles with Hero guys in Max's room.  Then they meandered their way into the kitchen, where his new friend had a question for Max's mom (at least, that's what I heard as they were walking down the stairs).

They made it over, and the conversation went a little like this:

New friend:  "Can we play video games now?"
Me:  "sorry, bud.  We don't have any." (yes, folks, we might be old fashioned these days, but that's just how it is around here.)
New friend:  "Seriously?  Not even a Wii?"
Me:  I kinda laugh.  "Nope, not even a Wii.  You guys will just have to find something else to do."
Of course Max is standing there watching this whole thing.  I'm a little hopeful that he'll suggest something.  But, he stands silent.  A little thrown that this guy wants to play with something we don't have.  I'm guessing he'd already had this conversation upstairs, and the new friend didn't believe him or something.
New friend:  "Man, our Wii at home has like 56 games or something.  That's what I always play."
(Sigh.)  Looking at this guy, I realize that he's lost the idea of what "something else" means.  And, he's not going to let this go.  And, he's probably just trying to push some buttons to see if we really don't have video games.

I do what any mom would do when she has a big bag of baking soda and a bottle of vinegar sitting underneath her kitchen sink.

And suggest a volcano.

What boy wouldn't want to make some exploding bubbles?
They had a great time.  Counting down the explosions.  Picking what color of lava they'd go for next.
Before long, they were off to the basement, jumping and building obstacle courses.  A great way to get out that endless energy.  Check that one off as a success.

Baking soda saved me again this morning.  As we opened Tayler's room to get her up, we were literally blown away from the fumes.  So bad that Mike turned right around and walked out.  The kind of smell that you mentally remind yourself where the nearest toilet is, just in case.  I made my way over to the crib to find she'd manage to throw-up all over.  And not recently.  As if she'd done it right around bedtime, then was so tired that she slept and rolled in it ALL-NIGHT-LONG.  The poor thing was covered in it.  The sheet was crusty, her jammies were crusty, the blanket was crusty and her hair, well, just imagine.  As I'm typing this I still can't believe that she didn't wake up and cry at some point during the night.  Folks, this stuff was not recent.

Operation fumigation was in order.  Another love, is the sanitize setting on our washer.  Literally life changing.

Two baths, an open window, fan blowing, complete crib wipe down, a finger nail trim, and I could still smell it.  Like that annoying fly that you can't kill in your house in the summertime.  It just wouldn't go away.

How could something so small make such a big mess?  (And how many times have I asked myself that question over the past 6.5 years?)

I'd wiped the mattress earlier, but then decided to just stick my nose on it - and immediately had another mental reminder for the nearest toilet.  Whew.  I still don't understand how a plastic baby mattress could smell so bad.

Mentally kicking myself for leaving the mattress pad off of the crib last night.  Of course, our current mattress pad is a big, fleece blanket.  Our original one wore out, and I can't seem to ever remember to just pick up a new one.  Or, maybe I'm cheap.  Whatever.  The blanket worked great, and was flat.  But, it didn't matter anyway, as it was sitting inside my dryer.

Which brings me back to the mattress.  And baking soda.  I dumped a big load of the stuff all over the mattress (wet it a little to make it more like a paste).  Closed the door, opened the window (again), ran the fan, and left.  A couple hours later, I came back, cleaned the whole thing off.  Voila!

Added a few squirts of febreze for good measure, and ahhh...room is back to normal.  At least for now.

If you don't have a big bag of this stuff (yes, mom, I'm still using that big bag you gave me ages ago!), add it to the list.

How's Tayler? You might wonder.  Fine.  As if it had never happened.  She ate a little more than usual before bedtime.  Clearly she didn't need it.