and sometimes there is poop on the rug

Our living room rug was perhaps the most foolish purchase I have made. We picked it up at IKEA when Daniel was itty bitty enough that we were counting his age in weeks, not even months. It wasn't expensive, it's the right size, looks okay with the increasingly shabby furniture...but there is one problem. It's white. Not bright white, but more like a soft white or maybe ivory. At least, it was. In the four years since, our poor rug has been repeatedly baptized with every possible beverage, snack and bodily fluid you could think of. It has also endured the careless gestures of enthusiastic young artists wielding colored markers (which are washable, but only to a point) and several accidents involving homemade play dough. I chose this rug because at the time I liked it and thought it fit the room, but so many times since then, I've said to myself "What was I thinking?"

Today, for example. I had just finished scrubbing away lines made by a blue marker, and I muttered "Maybe I should just get a new rug." Not 15 minutes later, the kids decided it was Naked Time (they periodically doff their clothes and chase each other around, squealing with laughter). Daniel is fine for Naked Time, since he has finally learned to answer the Call of Nature by going to the bathroom. But Anya is not even close. Several months ago, she liked to wake up between 5:00 and 5:30am and request to sit on the potty, but usually nothing happened, and eventually the novelty wore off. She is extremely resistant to potty-training, in fact, and if you know Anya, you'll understand me when I say that it is really best NOT to push this and let her decide when she is ready.

Please, please let her be ready soon. Because most of the time, Naked Time goes without major incident, but today, as if on cue, right after I contemplated replacing that awful rug, she pooped on it. I didn't see it happen because I was in the kitchen trying to get dinner ready, but I heard her whimper, "Mom! I pooped!"

Ten minutes, several rags, and a lot of Lysol later, you can't tell. Or if there is a stain, it's no worse than the ones left from the long, frustrating period when Daniel was figuring this all out, or the particularly stubborn brown splotch from the Thanksgiving my parents and brother came to visit and they ALL broke coffee mugs...yeah, I think it's best to leave the rug where it is until this particular phase of childhood is past. But whenever Anya decides to potty train (and like I said, I am leaving this ball in her court), I may reward myself with a new rug. And I'll be sure it's not white.

Comments

Strangeite said…
If it makes you feel better, we were stupid enough to carpet the living room, hallway and all the bedrooms in white carpet.

We also have 2 kids (another on the way), a black dog and a cat.

Between the dog hair, spills, poop, pee, vomit and other asundery stains, our carpet is a nice muddy shade of blah.
Cathy G. said…
It reminds me of the couch I had when my son was small. I 'rescued' it from someone else and put in my den. Then I forbid anyone from going into the living room. Three years later, I made my husband sneak the couch out to the dump after dark so the neighbors wouldn't know we had such a horrible thing in the house. However, my living room couch still looked like new!
Jessi said…
There is something so inviting about a white rug. I have decided that I am done, though, I'm not replacing anything else until my kids are both are high school.
Claire said…
Hear. You. Cluckin'! I have a list of things in my head that I'm waiting to get (and good thing I can't afford anything right now anyways) when the kids are out of certain messy stages. We'll see how long it takes.
Steph said…
And here I was feeling all put out earlier this evening about my gray cat who sheds all over my beige kitchen mat.
Rachel said…
Uncanny. I just read this post (it's Friday) AFTER I wrote a post about our white rug. Great minds...small children....
Anonymous said…
And then there was the house in Socorro on the AAUW Christmas tour that had a white shag carpet in the kitchen. I was told they ate no meals at all at home, and the only reason they had a kitchen was because housing codes required one.

Yes. The kitchen.

Some times I think a house with small children should be decorated in dog food brown. Too practical; it would never fly.

Wait until they are out of high school? No. They will be in college and you will be helping with tuition.

You just can't win. But oh my the stories they generate!

-Chanterelle
Kathy said…
Potty training your kid requires a lot of patience and skill. It gets tougher if you cannot remove the stains in your carpet. When I had my share of experience with difficult stains, I consulted the experts from our local tile stores (Tampa) where I bought my stainmaster carpet (Tampa). They told me that stains in carpets should be treated as soon as possible. To remove stains, use dry cloth or a paper towel to blot up as much as possible the liquid or debris. I never knew that rubbing or scrubbing the area with a rag can damage the fibers and even possibly create a permanent scar in the carpet.

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