Car wash.

Demi got tired of school today but she didn't want to play alone. Zehira was fussy and Travis needed a lot of help with most of his school work. Demi kept yelling to go potty. I would take her then 2 minutes later she yelled to go again. I couldn't stop this crazy cycle of I don't understand this question mommy, cries from baby, and potty please! This went on for about 30 minutes. It was as if my children thought making mommy run in circles was a fun game to play. I got tired of the game and I told Demi that she was a good girl and all done with potty for now. Two minutes later I heard mommy take me potty please! I asked her to please wait a minute so I could help Travis with a problem and she said NO my car is dirty and needs to be cleaned now. Only after hearing her saying that was I able to figure out what she was up to. She was finding all the little toy cars in the playroom and taking one at a time to the bathroom so after she went potty she could wash them. I was so busy with all the children I never noticed we had a different car every trip to the bathroom. I have always let her take a small toy to wash when I take her to the bathroom and I let her wash the toys when she washes her hands. I look at it as good way to kill germs on the favorite toys and remind Demi to go to the potty every few hours. I realized she wasn't trying to make me run around she was trying to wash all her cars. I helped Travis with his question then I tossed this activity for Demi. I told her it was a car wash so she could clean her dirty cars.

I knew a tiny tray with some foam soap on it would not keep her busy for long so I picked up a couple cotton balls and Q-tips I had in a mitten kit on the table and added a small wash cloth. I took the lid from an almost empty bottle of apple juice and put some water in it. She was playing earlier with some thin craft straws so I added a few of them on the tray. I then poured her a cup of juice in a sippy cup to empty the bottle.

Demi was excited with her new activity. Travis could hear the excitement in her voice that made him look over to see what she had. He started immediately correcting the way she was washing her cars. I could see that he was VERY interested in this activity. I calmly reminded him that this is his sisters car wash and that she can wash the cars however she wants. I told him once he finished his school I would give him a car wash to wash cars if he wanted. I didn't think he would be interested in playing with a little car wash but I guess he was very interested in it. He didn't say anything but he did all of the sudden seem to understand the grammar lesson he was having so much trouble with before the carwash was set up. LOL! He finished the lesson very fast and smiled when he saw I had a tray ready for him. He took the tray over to the play table Demi was at and had fun washing his cars. Both children came up with ways to use the car wash themselves. Demi used Q-tips to add the soap on her cars. She then wet the cotton ball to wipe off the soap. The straws she used for the cars to drive along like a road or a track to an automatic car wash. Travis came up with another way to use his car wash. Travis drove his cars into the pile of foam soap on his tray. He then used the tiny straws to blow off the soap. Then he used the Q-tips to get any spots of soap that was left. I guess I put enough things on the trays because neither of them asked for anything else. Well, Demi did need a little more water but that was the only thing she asked for. They played car wash for over an hour! I was able to get the baby to sleep and because the children played quietly for so long the baby got a good nap. Life is good!