Slick

Ahhh, I have learned my lesson when it comes to allowing the kids to play together during their rest. Not a good idea (at least at this age). Apparently, even the most obedient, compliant children can find a way to get into trouble, as evidenced by Leah and Hunter on Saturday afternoon in March.

Now keep in mind that I did have both monitors on, and could hear the kids, but, as most any mom will tell you, you don't focus on every single word. Instead, I listen for if the kids need help with something or seem to be in distress/upset. Since I never heard anything but giggles and happy sounding kids, well, I thought nothing of what was taking place upstairs.

Which is why I was floored and speechless when I walked upstairs to get the kids up. My first clue should have been hearing Hunter say, "Mommy, look at my hair!" But again, I paid no mind... until I SAW his hair plastered to his head with Vaseline. And not just a little bit-- almost an entire large tub of Vaseline.

"We were playing hairdresser, Mommy," Leah informed me with a grin, proud of her work, (at least scissors weren't involved) while I surveyed the mess before me: Vaseline smeared on the walls, the dog kennel, the carpet, the footstool. I just wanted to sit and cry (for Scott was working that night) or shout but instead I just opted for: "Get into the bath. Right now," which the kids happily obliged.

The Vaseline was so thick, that I couldn't even comb it; Hunter's hair did not MOVE. I sudsed him up and rinsed about five times but to no avail. At that point, I figured the only way to get it out of his hair was to reduce the amount of hair to begin with, so I grabbed the hair shears and started snipping here and there, my goal simply to shorten the hair so that I could work out the grease helmet. (Thankfully, the random snipping didn't result in the butchering I had anticipated; his haircut wasn't perfect, but it certainly wasn't as obviously bad as I had expected.)

Suds and rinse again. And again. Then I remembered: Google it. Course, I didn't want to step away from the tub long enough to run downstairs, conduct a search, and run upstairs all the while leaving the kids unsupervised. So, thanks to a phone call and my dad, I soon had a solution: olive oil, Dawn dish soap, and conditioner.

Well, that worked, but again, it required several cycles to make a difference. When I thought I had washed it all out, I pulled two very wrinkled kids out of the tub, got them dressed, then took them to my parents' house so that I could clean up the mess in Hunter's room. Not until we arrived at their house did I notice that their hair (for apparently Leah had a bit of Vaseline in it, too) still looked wet. And when I picked them up about an hour later, I noticed the same thing. After all that scrubbing and sudsing and repeating, their hair STILL HAD VASELINE IN IT!

But at that point, I knew it could wait for the morrow, for I was done.

And so, what have I learned from all this?
1. Even good kids have their moments.
2. Rest time is to be an independent "activity".
3. Don't leave a tub of Vaseline (lotion, shampoo, toothpaste, etc) unsupervised in reach of curious children.

Not the clearest photo, but you get the idea. This is how I found him after Leah had "styled" his hair.

At least HE was all smiles, despite several shampoos and an impromptu haircut.

Notice the empty tub. That's how much was on my boy's head. 

And this is what his hair looked like THE NEXT MORNING!

But how could I stay angry at a face like this?