On Tuesday, she gave Megan the rest of her container of Tylenol. Yikes! (I don't think there was a ton left, but still...) We had a talk with her about how there are some things moms and dads do that big sisters don't do.
On Wednesday, she gave Megan a bath. She even washed and conditioned her hair. We had another talk with her about things moms and dads do that older sisters don't do. At least not without their mom or dad there.
On Thursday, she really wanted to make sure we knew she was really ready for school. She played with red food dye. In her room. She says she was trying to dye one of her play dishes red. Also, she wanted to see how red her Strawberry Shortcake car could get (note to self: it was already completely red and pink....). I'm not sure what all she did, but it made a HUGE mess!!!! It looks like she used close to a whole big bottle of red food dye in her room.
We started cleaning it up. Spot Shot stain remover took out the first stains I found right away. Those stains were pretty much right on top of the carpet and so a little spray and a little blotting got them out. Hooray! We used up all the Spot Shot we had left so while we waited to get more of that, I had Sarah clean up her floor so we could see if there were any more spots. Boy were there ever! That's when I discovered the area where there was some really intense red dye. Like it looks like the dye may have been poured directly onto the carpet. Or pretty close to it. To start cleaning that up, I used three (3!) whole cans of Spot Shot and a lot of rags to blot. By the time I went to bed Thursday evening, it looked much better. I knew I would need to do some more work, but was encouraged by how much better it looked.
Some of the cleaning supplies used on Thursday
Friday morning, the carpet was pink again. It's like a monster came and undid all our work on Thursday. Sarah thought that what happened is that daddy must have rubbed instead of blotted when he worked on the stain a little bit which must have turned the carpet pink (you can see that I did a good job stressing to her that we must BLOT not RUB the stain). Sarah even called U to accuse him of such. Of course, we all know that U would never have rubbed the stain, right? Probably what actually happened is that the remaining dye was coming to the surface of the carpet. I spent a few more hours primarily using water and towels to clean the carpet. Friday night, I was very encouraged by how the carpet looked. There was still a bit of work I'd need to do, but a lot of the dye was gone. Or so I thought....
Saturday morning (aka today), the carpet was pink again. Ahhhhhh! The monster's back!
The stain on Saturday morning. I don't think the picture shows just how dark it was.
It was the first time I took a picture. I know, I know--I should have gotten them all along because if I'm going to spend hours upon hours cleaning (at least 8 so far) I should at least have photos to document my work, right?
So it was probably less red than Friday morning and definitely less than Thursday afternoon. But still.... Anyhow, I sprayed the stain with vinegar and then sprinkled baking soda on top of it. I let it dry and then I vacuum. Then I spray again with vinegar (the vinegar is supposed to break down the dye). I think each iteration is resulting in a little less dye in the carpet. I certainly hope so! I guess we'll see if the monster comes tonight or not....
I sure hope no red monsters come to our home--we have enough fun ourselves. Thanks anyway. Hope it quits coming to yours soon.
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