Lessons Learned (Hopefully)

Jacob has had quite an eventful week - and it's only Wednesday morning.

Lesson One
Sunday at church, he got the bright idea to stick his name tag on his bare leg. Maybe if he had peeled it off immediately, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But he didn't try until Billy picked him up after church, and by then it was stuck and stuck good. He had to soak in the tub for a while, with a good covering of soap over the name tag, to get it to peel away. And even then, the sticky part still stuck. We tried rubbing alcohol to get it off, but it didn't. He's going to have to go around a few days with sticker residue stuck on his leg until it finally wears off.

He always likes to be "funny" with his name tag. I think he won't bother with it anymore. I asked him where he always puts his name tag to begin with, and he said, "My shirt." I told him I expected it to stay there every Sunday from now on.

Lesson Two
Last night he was too "lazy" to take his dirty clothes to the hamper in my bathroom, so he left them in a heap on his bedroom floor. He assured me he'd take care of it in the morning. When he woke up this morning, the first thing he said was, "There are ants all over my clothes from last night." I asked how he could see them since the boys' room is always pretty dim in the mornings. "They're obvious," he responded.

Not sure what I'd find, I eased in and tiptoed to the light pull on their fan. Before I turned the light on, I could see his white shirt was covered in ants. Big ants. Oh, no!

I sprayed an empty clothes basket with Raid, then did a quick spray on his clothes before dropping them in. I lightly sprayed the menagerie of books, MP3 players and headphones, and miscellaneous LEGOs, then took his clothes to dump in the washing machine for a quick, super hot wash. When I went back in the room, I checked around the window, the most likely place they'd be coming in. Nothing. I looked all around the baseboards and the ceiling/wall corners, but I didn't see any there either.

Now my stomach is in knots because now I have to look under the bunk beds. That entails taking Jacob's bottom mattress off, removing the support boards, and pulling out all the tubs of toys stored under there. I really hope I don't find any more ant-infested clothing! I have a fear there may be some ant-infested Webkinz, though, since they shove them between the bed and the wall at night. Other stuffed animals get bedded down there, too, but they usually don't come out again until I do my big cleaning.

Speaking of big cleaning, I'm afraid that's what I get to do today. Here goes...