My son is a soap addict

No, not soap operas (thank goodness)—liquid soap that abounds in every household. He especially loves to rub it in his hair, and does this at every house we visit. We have tried lots of things to get him to stop: stern talking-to, time outs, putting the soap up high (this never works because one of us eventually leaves it down after washing our hands), and I even let him do his own hair in the bath so he will have some satisfaction.

Kevin actually puts a lot of different things in his hair besides soap. He rubs lotion in all the time. He has also put diaper rash cream, shampoo and conditioner (while NOT in the bath), and once Elmer’s glue. After the glue, John and I both talked to him very seriously, saying “You never put ANYthing in your hair unless you’re in the bath! NOTHING!!” That was about a month ago, and he has been really good since then, even leaving the soap alone.

Until yesterday.

He was supposed to be taking a nap, when Garrett and I heard a THUMP and then he was crying. Garrett said, “He must have fallen out of bed!” and we rushed upstairs. But no, his bedroom door was open—he wasn’t in there. Another thump and more crying. . .from the bathroom? He usually is really good and doesn’t come out of his room after I put him to bed, so this was surprising. I opened the bathroom door and he was right behind it, slipping and sliding and falling with several more thumps as I opened the door. Why was he slipping and falling? You guessed it: soap all over the floor. An entire dispenser full of liquid soap that morning was now empty and all over the floor. No wait, it was also all over the counters, coated on some bath toys, and finger painted on the wall. I stood there in shock for a second, then said “Kevin, why did you do that??” He was still crying and tried to compose himself enough to say “I didn’t put in my hair!” I started laughing. At least he had enough self control to leave it out of his hair. I tried to be serious again, “But you put it all over the sinks, and the floor, and the toys, and the wall.” He was pretty calm by now. “And the door, Mom.” I looked at the door. Finger painted with soap as well. I *almost* wish it had been something colored so I could take a picture, because it would have been spectacular.

Well, my bathroom is cleaner than it has been in awhile. Smells good too--like soap.

Road trip report

(from Lajuana)

I think I have sufficiently recovered from the road trip to now post some pictures and report on our travels. We drove through the night to get to Austin about lunch time, and checked into a hotel that was absolutely disgusting. It looked nothing like it's cheery pictures on the internet. Here is a picture of part of the bathroom ceiling that was covered in mold.


Needless to say we didn't stay there, but found a nicer place just a few blocks away. We spent the first few days with two of John's brothers and kids. We saw some sights in Austin and played games and went swimming. We went to the botanical gardens where Hannah was attacked by a giant scorpion. The kids had fun, but the heat and walking definitely tired them out.









We were so lucky that the Cluffs attend church in Austin, so we crashed their ward and then went home with them. They have a great house, and they welcomed us with open arms. Erin even encouraged me to do my laundry there, which helped a TON so I had much less to do when I got home. They have a trampoline that Kevin and Jared loved to jump on, and the dads took the kids to the park while we made Sunday dinner. It was so nice to be with them again, and the kids played so nicely together--it was amazing. Thanks so much, Cluff family!

We left Monday morning to go visit with John's dad for the day, then we went out to stay with my sister in Tyler, which I think is the prettiest place in Texas. We went to the (free!) rose gardens and also went swimming with my niece and nephew who are teenagers. My sister has a kitty that Hannah was obsessed with--she spent hours with it. It almost makes me ready to get a cat. Almost.







The drive home seemed twice as long as our drive there, even though it was actually a few hours shorter. I got a speeding ticket at 4 am, for going 76 mph on an interstate with nobody else around, how annoying is that?! The kids all traveled well in the van thanks to the dvd player and 8 borrowed dvd's from the library. Kevin is finally old enough that he will watch shows and movies for at least part of the time, and that is a wonderful attribute for children during a road trip! Though the trip was great, it was so wonderful to walk in our door, home at last. Kevin asks every day whose house we are going to today, and when I say we're just staying here, he says "I wanna go to the Club house" which I finally figured out means Cluff's house. It's going to be a long summer.