Butter In The Carpet, PB&J On The Wall

2 pounds of butter should not be smeared all over my couch and carpet when I am showing my house to potential buyers at any minute. But it was. When Ryan was little he had a thing for the feel of butter. Plus, Ryan was a bit ornery! I called a friend to see how to get butter out of the couch and carpet. She said cornstarch. She was wrong! Now I had a white gooey mess all over and was afraid the carpet was ruined.

Since Ryan had made other messes, I got an idea. He was forever pouring baby powder all over baby Tanner. So I grabbed the fresh smelling powder, shook it all over Ryan, sat him in the middle of the butter, cornstarch mess and told him not to move. Then the doorbell rang. When the people entered I acted surprised that Ryan was sitting there with the baby powder. It smelled adorable. He looked innocently at them and mouthed sorry. The best end to this story would be that they bought our house but they didn't. I cannot tell a lie. I did learn that Dawn dishwashing liquid is the best butter remover. Our carpet and couch were saved and I learned to buy smaller tubs of butter.

Ryan was my little turkey and he was not even 4 years old yet. Once he went out in the back yard and plucked all our sweet little peaches off our young tree. He picked all 12 peaches and left the tree bare. I was so mad, I stood him in the corner. Unfortunately, I had just hung grass cloth, wallpaper on the wall and Ryan had just ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yes, he smeared his grubby little face all over my wallpaper. I gently (okay maybe I do lie) took him down the hall and put him on my bed. I told him to stay put. When I came back a while later and asked if he was sorry, he told me he peed my bed. I was now a most unhappy mother.

Ryan's preschool years were full of those times. Remarkably, he and I both survived. Now I can look back on those years and smile, but at the time aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh! If you know a mom of a preschooler, call and see if you can watch the kids and pay for her to go to lunch and a movie. You will be her hero and may save a toddlers life.

In Him,
Joyful
3-7-2010