Stains, Syrup, and Mr. Clean.

Kids just love chocolate don't they? I haven't met a kid yet that didn't go crazy over the sweet goodness of chocolate.
My kids really love chocolate, and in particular, chocolate syrup. They have it in their milk, and they ask for it on their waffles (No) cereal (No) and just about anything sweet, they thnk can be improved with a dose of chocolate syrup.

When we first moved into this house, 18 months ago, our kids were 18 months and 32 months old(thats just over 2-1/2 for you math freaks). They loved chocolate syrup then too - and thats when our adventures began....
3 weeks after we first moved in, Duncan somehow managed to make a mess in his room. How he managed to sneak our Costco size chocolate syrup container upstairs - I *still* don't know. I have blocked most of that day out of my mind - I'm in some kind of post traumatic shock about it I guess. All I remember is coming out of the bathroom and seeing what I thought was dirt on my brand new carpet - Grrrrr I thought to myself, time to get the vacuum cleaner out - but on closer inspection, I saw that it was not dirt, but instead a footprint - made of chocolate syrup. then I saw another one. and another. They were leading from Duncan's bedroom down the hall towards Matthew's bedroom. Opening the door to Duncan's room, I just about had a heart attack. Footprints all around the room, originating from a giant chocolate pool smack dab in the centre.
After picking up my jaw from the floor - I called Chris! ok screamed is more like it. Panicked, I'll admit, and in retrospect, I probably wasn't very nice - but CRAP - 3 weeks old our carpet was.
The boys were banished somewhere - I don't even remember what we did with them- they were both in cribs at that point, so I suspect we put them to bed. Chris bought a mini little steam cleaner which got out the footprints, but we were left with a giant stain still in Duncan's room.
We thought about calling in a carpet cleaner, but didn't do anything about it until a week later when Duncan go a hold of my green dishsoap, and emptied the entire 1/2 bottle remaining onto his carpet.
If you've ever tried steam cleaning soap, you'll know it's not a good idea - it just creates a big foamy mess - and the carpet was STILL stained green.

This time we ended up calling in the professionals. As I told them over the phone what had happened, they assured me that they had taken out every kind of stain imaginable. I told them that my son had also dumped the dishsoap on there, and they were stumped! It was a new one to them in all of their 27 yrs of service. Great. I'm so proud that my kids have found a NEW way to stain a carpet. I took the kids to the mall while Chris stayed home with the carpet cleaners. I returned to find my carpets once again looking like new - phew, what a relief. I vowed to keep them pristine.

Matthew had other plans. Just a few months later, I came downstairs to find him holding the chocolate syrup bottle in the living room. He was sitting in a chair drinking it. I took the bottle away, relieved that it was empty - Until I realized that it sure wasn't empty when he'd gotten it down. I am POSITIVE that I was upstairs for 7 minutes maximum. Being about 6 months pg, and still having morning sickness, I was having a difficult time watching them constantly - still, I admit that it was my fault that he got into trouble - i simply wasn't watching him. I found where he had started emptying the chocolate syrup. He managed to get it all over the carpet in 3 separate rooms (living room, dining room, family room) not to mention all over the couch, the chairs the kitchen floor, the counters....
My house looked like Willie wonkas, with chocolate everywhere!
This time, I cried. I'm sure part of it was pregnancy hormones, and the rest was just sheer frustration that he would wait until the second my back was turned and cause maximum damage to such a vast amount of the house, in such a short period of time.
This time we bought the BIG steam cleaner.
It worked and we didn't have another chocolate syrup incident for a long time.
We did have other incidents:
Downy Fabric Softener - stains blue - still haven't got that stain out, but luckily most of it is in the linen closet that still smells wonderfully fresh , every time I open the door.
1 dozen Eggs and 1/2 bag of milk. (called in professionals for that)
Cream soda. (Thank goodness for Oxy)
I won't even mention some of the more disgusting things that have found their way to our carpets - suffice it to say - our steam cleaner has paid for itself SEVERAL times over in the amount we've saved by not having to call carpet cleaners every other week.
The boys still like chocolate syrup but they are learning that it doesn't belong on the carpets.
This makes mummy very mad, and usually results in getting put to bed.
I did catch Matthew with the chocolate syrup the other day - out on the deck. He made a mess outside - but hey, the carpets were clean.
I still got after him about that.

Today I caught him with a chair pushed up to the counter, and a straw inserted into the chocolate syrup - he was drinking it straight, and made a MINIMUM mess on the kitchen counter. He's getting better - or should I say he's getting cleaner - leaving less evidence. Getting wiser maybe.
I keep hiding the syrup - he keeps finding it. I put it higher and higher, until *I* need a chair to get it down. I think I've seen every kind of mess known to moms.
Matthew took a highlighter one day and got our freshly painted walls, the fireplace, my light beige leather couches, the counters the highchair and the curtains.
I have a love affair with cleaning products. Mr Clean has saved my bacon a few times. Magic erasers really do work on the walls - they get out pencil, pen, and highlighters. They do not get red chalk off of white walls. But, amazingly enough, Pampers baby wipes work really well.
Permanent black sharpie marker on my wooden table - baby wipes and magic erasers - a tandam effort. I should write a book on stain removal.
All liquids in our house are now put far out of reach to anyone under 5'8" in fact anything of importance including soap of any kind and even toilet paper. Walked into the bathroom yesterday to find yet another brand new roll of TP floating in the loo.......
Toddlers are fun - they keep me sharp - I've reduced our house and it's contents into a veritable funhouse for visitors - Where's the soap - oh it's on top of the cabinet - put it back when you're done with it. Trying to open any of our cupboards? All equiped with safety latches, figure it out if you want a spoon. Trying to get out - here, let me do that for you, I'll just turn off the alarm, undo the safety latch, and the deadbolt - there, easy as pie. I don't think twice about this kind of stuff - to our friends - most of whom do not have children yet, our house is a minefield of kidproof devices and oddities and of course lots and lots of Duct Tape. But that's another post altogether.
Liquid soap in the bathroom