Intentions never go as planned. I'm a mother. I should know this. At least, I should by now.
There have been very few major incidents in our household in the past 4 years and 7 months of being parents. We did have what I would call "The Great Oil Spill of '09" which was an overwhelming mess, and today we experienced another disaster of that nature that I will refer to as "The Dust Bowl of 2013" only this dust bowl wasn't in the Oklahoma region many years ago due to lack of rain and very very dry lands. Oh no. This dust bowl occured in the Waite home, at the hands of two boys (mostly one, really), and a brand new bag of dry tile grout.
My boys tend to get up and play for and wait a bit before coming to get me out of bed. Today was the same, I was vaguely aware they were up but for the most part still in a sleep stupor. Ryder came in and asked if his 'byper' (diaper) could come off- because he hasn't mastered potty training at night yet- when I noticed white spots on his hair and forehead. This paint-like looking substance put me on alert. I asked what was on his head when I hear Brody shout from the kitchen, "Its just nothing I want you to see!!! I'm cleaning it up!" That sent the red flags up in an instant. I threw off the covers and hurried to the kitchen.
Before I reached the doorway I noticed white spots on my carpet in the dining area. This was so not going to be good.....a sense of dread was already upon me. I look in the kitchen and there is a new bag of white tile grout split open, and that gritty-flour-like substance everywhere! Layer upon layers. Splotches of it sprayed up onto several of the walls. A new cabinet that we are installing was wide open with a generous amount of grout inside. And then Brody. In the middle of it all. Holding a dust pan scooping up piles of grout and trying to put it back in the bag.
My immediate reaction? Furious. Ticked. Overwhelmed. Wanna cry..........
"WHAT DID YOU DO???? GET OUT OF HERE! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS! BOTH OF YOU GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
They high-tailed it out of there. Too bad that as I watched their fleeing forms I noticed dozens of white footprints on my carpet leading from the kitchen down to Brody and Ryder's bedroom. I called Trevor and told him. I didn't know where to begin. These are the kinds of messes that make me shut down because I can't even think where to start and what to do. Trevor told me not to mop it because it would harden like cement. Well, yeah, I know that, but at some point it was going to have to be mopped. He was actually having a bad morning too, and so he was not very helpful to me and seemed short with me so that was not a long conversation.
I got off the phone, went to the boys room and found Brody in their bathroom running water over his socks. There were white footprints in there too! Not only that, but streaks of grout and puddles of standing water on the top of the counter! Again, "What are you doing?" Brody tells me he was trying to clean his dirty socks. Bless his little soul for trying to clean up, but he was making more messes left and right! Ryder and Brody were told to stay on their beds and I went back to the mess.
What to do? Where to begin? How am I going to do this? I just wanted my easy day.......
So....first things first......take pictures. That wasn't going to help clean it up, but its what I did. -K- pictures done. Now the real work.......or.....out came the video camera to document this momentous day and then down to the culprits bedroom for an interview. Both boys were solemnly sitting on their beds. One had spots of grout on his head, the other had streaks of it down his cheek. I begin talking to them about why they would do this and what they were thinking. I don't get much response. I start asking WHO made the mess. I specifically zoom in on Ryder's face and ask him. Each time I ask his eyes glance towards Brody as if he wanted to say Brody did it, but his loyalty was kicking in and he wasn't about to rat out his brother. I ask again and Ryder finally says, "santa." Oh. Really. "Santa did it." Ryder shook his head no, knowing that wasn't the truth when Brody finally tells me something like, "I'm just telling the truth, I did it." My anger had lessened a lot by then, and hearing the confession melted this mommy's heart even more. I was proud that he would admit his guilt.
The interview came to a close, and I left their room and really surveyed everything and have come up with what I think happened. I believe that the boys were playing and the bag of grout was in the way. I think Brody went to move it and it was too heavy and he dropped it splitting the bag wide open. I think- and this is when I feel bad for being mad and sad knowing probably what went through Brody's mind- Brody went into his own panic mode. I think his first reaction was, I am going to be in so much trouble! I need to fix this! I then think he tried to clean up, only to make things worse.
Trevor came home and was pretty ticked initially. He got after the boys too. Then, (bless his soul) Trevor began cleaning the floor. It took a sweeping, some vaccuming, and mopping by Trevor to get the majority of the mess picked up before he had to head back to work. Another sweeping and two more moppings later, the kitchen finally is livable, but could still use a 4th mopping. The carpet was vaccumed twice, and the boys' bathroom had to have a good wipe down too. It really was so so so bad. This was probably worse than dirt or flour could ever be, it was such a fine, gritty mess.
