Can I change my mind?

Once I decided on my goal for this week, I almost immediately regretted my decision. I want to not sweat the small stuff, but it's really hard when you have a 2 year old. Especially a 2 year old boy who is kind of naughty.

Yesterday evening, Peyton was downstairs playing. (I should remember to include here that Ryan was working late again and was not here to help me.) He had been down there for a while and so I thought I should check on him. I found him in the laundry room (I don't know how he got in there). He had opened up the dryer, removed the clothes that were in there and was sitting inside playing. My initial reaction was, "Crap! He's put clean clothes on the floor." I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it was really no big deal. I could always rewash the clothes if necessary. It wouldn't kill me.

I pulled him out of the dryer and noticed that he was kind of stinky. I took him upstairs to change his diaper. However, when the diaper was removed, there was nothing there. He was barely wet. Strange. I picked him up, but again smelled something stinky. I started looking him over and found a dried, brown substance on one of his hands. I immediately knew what had happened. Avery had used the downstairs bathroom and not flushed it. I don't know how I knew that, it's just the thought that came to my mind. I turned to Avery, who was close by and asked her if that's what had happened. She said, "oh, probably." Great. I cleaned Peyton's hand and went downstairs slowly because I was really dreading what I might find.

Sure enough, Avery had NOT flushed the toilet after using it. Peyton had managed to get into another room he shouldn't have been in. I was greeted with a lovely sight. Poop smeared all over the toilet. He had taken the toilet scrubbing brush and swirled it around in the toilet and outside it as well. He was kind enough to return it to it's caddy, but it was covered. As was the caddy and the floor it was sitting on. If that wasn't enough, he had also pulled off about a half a roll of toilet paper, strewing it on the floor and in the bathtub. Not losing my cool right then was tough. My right eye started twitching and my forehead started to throb.

I knew the only thing to do was clean it up and so I did. It was disgusting, but nothing a little disinfecting spray couldn't take care of. No big deal. Right? That's what I had to keep telling myself over and over and over. Next, I put Peyton in the tub. I cleaned him up and dressed him and I was congratulating myself on remaining calm. It was at that moment that Cameron called me, needing help with something. I walked away for about 30 seconds. I came back to find Peyton sitting in the tub again. I laughed and told him to get out and then I noticed that I had forgotten to drain the water out of it. He was wet up to his chest. I screamed. Not yelling at him screaming. A scream of frustration.

Now, Peyton has 6 pairs of pajamas. One of them he was wearing and the other 5 were in the washer with 45 minutes left on the cycle. There was nothing to do but strip him down and pray that he didn't take off his diaper while waiting for clean pajamas. You see, if he can get to his diaper, he will take it off. If you catch him in time, it's not a problem. If you don't, he...well, you can guess what happens. He did take it off a couple of times. Thankfully, I caught him before anything bad happened, but it was still a very long night. Oh, and Ryan came home just as I was putting on Peyton's clean pajamas. He got to miss all of the fun. As usual. ☺

I hope this was the worst of it and I can keep my calm the rest of the week. Otherwise, it's going to be a very long one.

**************************************

What's on the menu today: Chicken & Rice Pacifica.