Potting Soil Mishap and No More Pix

Well, bad news, kiddies. The printer/scanner/copier of the Guerra household has officially broken after three and almost one half years and I now have no way to upload my photos. Boo. And just when I was starting to get really good about posting pictures and regular blog entries! So until I figure out what to do in the meantime, my awesome amazing descriptive writing will have to do.

Also bad news is trying to get potting soil out of a toddler's hair. Well, actually, that's more bad news for me than for you, but whatever.

Sybilla and I ran some errands this morning in anticipation of a dinner guest (who never showed but it's ok; her excuse was she got a free ticker to the UT game this evening and let's face it, in this family, we'd have skipped out on any prior engagements to go to a UT game instead too! So, Emily, you're very much forgiven...but not completely, as we are also insanely jealous) and then spent the afternoon at home cooking and cleaning.

After Sybilla had been driving me crazy in the kitchen, I decided she needed a distraction. TV just doesn't work anymore--she watches for all of five minutes and then runs off to wreak havoc elsewhere--so I needed something stronger in appeal. Aha! OUTSIDE! She loves to play out on our balcony and it's nice because she can run and play without us worrying that a) someone will whisk her away beneath our noses or b) that she can run away. I opened the patio door and let her out. Even though I could hear her, and knew that she was fine, I couldn't see her and really, it was probably a good thing because I would have flipped out even more if I'd seen the mess in progress.

I stepped back outside and my patio is half covered in potting soil. Even worse, so was Sybilla. Apparently, she'd had great fun shoveling it out with a garden trowel and then dumping it over her head. Fine, I said. It's bath day anyway and she's already dirty, so we'll just let her stay that way until she's all done, then we'll clean up and go get a bath. That was a whole 'nother can of worms!

Have you ever tried to get potting soil out of a toddler's hair? First off, potting soil is more than just dirt. It's usually ground up mulch fibers and God only knows what else, so it doesn't wash out very easily. And with a toddler's baby fine hair, it looks like lice and is horribly hard to get out. So there I was, shampooing her head three times, attacking it with a fine tooth brush, mohawking and spiking, just to get every last little bit of potting soil out of her hair. She had some crazy waves in her hair afterward! I took pictures, but alas, you don't get to see them just yet.

So my advice to all you mommies out there...don't let your kids play in potting soil unless you like dirt in your house or inflicting pain and torture on yourself. Whichever.

Happy Saturday,
Kelly