Laundry Chronicles: Pink

Now, you might think by the title that we are going to talk about a red sock that gets thrown in with the whites...but no sir. I like to keep you on your toes.

Pink is Curly's best friend. Curly usually keeps pink very close to her, especially during times of rest or sleeping. Pink is a staple in her life, like food and water. Pink is that important.

Now we go with a different topic that seems quite unrelated at the start but then you quickly begin to see where they come together. That's the predictability of this writer.

Curly is three. Curly is potty trained...during the day. Curly needs to learn to go potty at night. That's not a fun thing for this Mommy to think about because unlike all the hooligans that stay up til all hours of night (read 8pm bedtimers) and have no need of getting up to go potty at night, Curly and Smiles go to bed at 6pm. She can stay up until 6:30 or 7 on a lucky night. She sleeps until about 7am. (Yes. I miss when it was 8am before Smiles was born.)

...count the hours....it's okay, I won't tell if you use your fingers.

Yep. That's right. Long time no pee.

We tried a few nights and then I gave up and decided she just wasn't ready. She is a very heavy sleeper afterall, so heavy that I can't even wake her enough to sleep walk her to the bathroom. AND IF I get her to the bathroom, she sits there too sleepy to release enough to pee. Not. Working.

You would think that changing the sheets every night would be the biggest reason that I don't want to do this night time potty fiasco. But that's not entirely true. While I don't like changing the sheets so often, it does work well that she is on a bunk bed with two beds that have waterproof mattress covers and the bottom is still empty. Her sister is still waiting in a far off land to warm that little bottom bunk. So a quick switch of clothes and bunks and we are good until morning. I don't have to focus on stripping the bed until then.

No. The issue isn't only the sheet changing. The big issue is Pink. Pink the blankey.

See...wet bed = wet Pink. We have an extra bed. We don't have an extra Pink. No extra Pink means Mommy doesn't get a wink.

Unless...Mommy gets so lazy with the rules that she actually allows Curly to sleep with a slightly damp blankey. BUT THAT would NEVER happen here. I'm just saying that some Mom's might do that. Not me.

There is weeping and wailing. You would think that someone had died. For real. Or that monsters came out from under the bed. But no...

SHE JUST WANTS TO SLEEP WITH A STINKING PEED BLANKET!

And here is where I correct you again. You are probably thinking- 3 year old logic states that I need my blanket to sleep and I don't care if it stinks. Uh....NO. That would mean that the protesting of washing Pink was limited to the middle of the night or near naptime. And that's just not so.

Curly believes within the deepest parts of her that if Pink gets washed something horrible will happen. She is convinced of it. She didn't tell me so with words, but it's pretty clear that she believes that because if I tell her that I am going to clean Pink, she throws herself on the floor in attempted self sacrifice on behalf of Pink, begging me to spare her beloved best sleep mate.

If you saw it, trust me, you would surely think that I was an awful Mother who threatens to unravel Pink thread by thread right in front of her face.

It's tragic.

So, what's a Mommy to do? If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them. For now, Pink is my bi-weekly (okay, more like monthly) prisoner of war. If I'm lucky I get to free her before Curly becomes any the wiser.

As you can see, Pink has been around a long time. If you can consider three and a half years a long time...

Pink turning Smiles into a "manger".

Notice that pj's are usually still on when Pink is around. And that she isn't selfish with Pink. She shares her with Smiles all the time.