Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Machine washable = magic words

The brown dog on the left is Doggie.

Not to be confused with Blue Doggie, who is next to him.This isn't the greatest picture, but you know who I'm talking about. You may have seen Doggie riding in the redneck truck in his blog debut.

And yes, this is now how we read. It's always at least the two dogs and a truck. And maybe a car and a ball, but those seem to be optional.

Doggie is Jordan's favorite stuffed animal, which makes me happy because I love him, too. He's from IKEA, so he was totally affordable, and we have a backup Doggie in case something terrible befalls him.

On a side bar: I love IKEA's toys. There's a stuffed elephant I keep looking for, because Jordan loves elephants. (Effent! Effent!) But it's perpetually out of stock and you cannot order online. What's with the Swedes and their unavailable elephants?

Anyway, back to Doggie.

Most importantly: he is machine washable.

Now, I am a woman who regularly goes to work with oatmeal in her hair and peanut butter on her pants. We wipe Jordan's hands off as best we can after meals. But there is always schmutz.

Jordan gets a bath most days, but not every day. This is a kid who chews wood chips at the playground. We think of it as building his immune system.

In other words, we're pretty tolerant of crud. So Doggie, like the rest of us, sometimes gets a little crusty here and there. This is fine.

However.

On Saturday morning Jordan kept running from the kitchen to the back room with Doggie and Blue Doggie in tow. And at some point I realized there was a puddle forming on the floor.

I followed the trail out of the kitchen, into the bathroom, straight up to the toilet. To the scene of the pool party, where Doggie had been learning to tread water.

We all have our limits.

10 comments:

  1. HILARIOUS!!!

    Good to know that IKEA toys are washable. I will have to remember that.

    Also, Jordan is so cute cuddling in Nick's lap with his stuffed friends!

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  2. Bahahaha! Doggies do love swimming.

    Also, bleahhhh! I'm one of those people who always keeps the lid shut, especially when flushing, because of all the toilet water particles (? droplets?) shooting up out of there and covering everything in the room. It's a scientific fact. So yeah, BLEAH big time on the toilet water. On the other hand, like you said, it's probably good to get their little immune systems pumping. Hard to know where to draw the line.

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  3. Pool party, ha! Yeah, I'd agree the toilet is a good limit to have in place for the sake of cleanliness.

    There's an IKEA close to the house - next time I go, I'll look for an elephant for you and Jordan.

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  4. This gave me a giggle Lisa. I think Big J is already showing his fatherly nurturing side by including all his lovies in the reading circle. Totally makes me melt. And then he balances out that soft side with giving them a bath in the toilet. So dang funny.

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  5. It is good that Nick is equipped with a surfeit of lap, for the holding of his considerable audience. Also, a backup doggie is an excellent idea.

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  6. I vividly remember my little brother having a tea party with my perfect pale pink tea cups using goddamn toilet water for tea. I am rethinking this boy thing is what I'm saying.

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  7. Here's a tip when it comes to backup friends. Use both doggies (bring one out when one is in the wash). Kids are WAY too smart. If one is pristine and the other well loved, Mr. New will be rejected!

    Lucky for me, Jess never got into the toilet. Now, stringing the toilet paper all over the house is a different story.

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  8. "We think of it as building his immune system." Ahahaha, love it!

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  9. Love the pool party idea. Have to suggest it to my nieces and nephews.

    My almost-4-year-old niece has a rabbit she loves, loves, luvs. I think my brother has four or five of them and, even thought Amelia can tell the difference, she loves them all the same. But she does make a point of pointing out that the rabbit she's holding isn't Rabbit #1 if that's the case. So, my advice: Make sure the stuffed animal/plastic car/whatever your child grows wildly attached to is mass produced and easily available. You never know when a favorite will be lost/forgotten/sucked out an open window while traveling.

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  10. Miss Dallas - I so recommend them. They are super soft and yes, you can chuck them in the machine. In fact, IKEA has tons of cute kid stuff. When J moves to a big boy room, I think I'll get his room stuff there.

    Laura - We should do that. I didn't think about the icky molecules getting everywhere in the bathroom. Yuck.

    So, it's the downstairs toilet that fascinates him. We usually just keep the door shut. But not always...

    HK - I keep telling him it's yucky and it's where we go potty...but that doesn't register for him as being super gross, you know?

    And if you are there and see one, I would totally appreciate it! I'll send you a check or paypal you the money.

    Lynn - It's kind of hard to tell, because he loves Doggie and walks around cuddling him...and then flings him on the floor or across the room. I don't know what that's about.

    Jessica - Yah, he has the more ample lap for the cabal. Also the arm reach to get around them. And yah, we didn't think of it at the time but I had to go back for a closet piece and snagged another Doggie.

    Hillary - I was just as gross as my brother, so even if you were having a girl (which we ALL now know you're not!!) you could wind up with disgusting toilet water tea parties anyway.

    cla517 - That's something I hadn't considered, and it's true that Doggie is getting well-loved and well-worn, and Other Doggie is sparkly and new. Hmm.

    As for the toilet paper - it drives me crazy.

    tamater sammich - I don't know how else to approach it. I know that rats walk on those damn wood chips. It's downtown DC after all. So gross.

    FoggyDew - Wellll, hmm. I suppose we're OK with the two we have as long as IKEA does not discontinue Doggie. I don't really want to have a stockpile of Doggies, though.

    Also, this makes me laugh. This is Rabbit, but not Rabbit #1. :)

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