The Magic of Baby Wipes

It all began with an evening enjoying the company of friends. The kids were being rambunctious as always (you get more than one toddler in a room full of toys and give them sugar and you are bound to have chaos) and the adults were indulging in a bit of wine with good conversation. I have to admit it was probably my fault to start. Red wine, white carpet. It's just asking for trouble. Plus I shouldn't have put my glass on Mason's train table so I could tickle and wrestle him. But I did, and wouldn't you guess, it got knocked over. I didn't freak out too much until I realized that the laws of attraction kicked in and the red wine was greeting the white carpet like old lovers. Shit. Quickly, we ran for the paper towels and wondered aloud if we had any carpet cleaner. On our hands and knees desperately trying to soak up the never ending stream of red wine and praying to God that we can get it out, Lawrence speaks up. Baby wipes. What!? Baby wipes. You can use baby wipes to get up the wine. They clean up anything, he says. Though they use the Costco brand and we only have Pampers but it'll do. Doubting their ability or effectiveness against red wine on a white carpet I hand over the tub of Pampers Sensitive wipes and watch. Our friend Lawrence, lying on the carpet, vigorously rubbing and sure enough it's working. We also happened to find the carpet cleaner and sprayed it on for good measure. Just to be sure. Now you can't even tell there ever was a spill.

That was around a month ago and the only reason I think of it now, is due to Mason and the trouble toddlers get into when left alone. Yesterday morning, while in the family room (same carpet as the red wine incident) playing with Mason, I am sitting on the carpet and turn to get up to go into the kitchen when I notice some marks on the carpet. It looks like Mason took some kind of writing utensil and ran it through the carpet making lines. As I get closer I realize it is highlighter. Yellow lines now decorating the spot under the makeshift end table (it's really a t.v. tray table). Shit, Fred is going to kill me. Not that it is necessarily my fault, I wasn't there when it happened. But I am the one responsible for him during the day and I don't want him to kill Mason either. I run to the sink and grab the carpet cleaner and paper towels. Not really wanting to spray harmful chemicals all over the carpet that my toddler plays on everyday I quickly run through my options and remember the phrase about baby wipes. They get everything out. Really? So I put them to the test and what do you know; the highlighter came out. Rather easily I might add. Hmm, I wonder what else it would get out. The dirt on those damn door mats?

Months ago, while Fred and our friend Adrian were outside detailing their matching corvettes I was inside cleaning. I paid particular detail to the door mats just inside the front door and the garage. While the front door I managed to get clean I gave up on the garage. Fast forward to the present and once again the mats are dirty, especially the garage. How I desperately wish we could walk on the mat and not come away looking like we dipped the bottom of our feet in soot. Thank you Fred's blue Mustang project. Once again I turned to the baby wipes. Were they up to the challenge? Yes. They were getting the dirt out, but slowly. With a screaming baby and toddler demanding my attention I was desperate to get it cleaned ASAP. So I combined the cleaning power of Resolve with the magic of Pampers Swipers and Viola! The front mat is almost spotless and while you can still see the remains of some nasty stains, the garage mat is infinitely improved. Who knew? Besides the Imeish family, to whom I am incredibly thankful for the tip. I too am a believer in the magic of baby wipes. And so is Fred, who when I recited the following story to him replied, imagine if you had the Costco brand. Oh I can. I can.