Quick Change Artists: DIY Playdough Playmats

My artists: chaos & control

My kids love Play-doh, but I dislike the million multi-color crumb clean-up.

I cut some lengths of freezer paper (size corresponding with age and messiness) to use as perpetual playmats.  Waxed paper or parchment would serve equally well.

When playdough interest wanes and the dough is tucked back into cans, I shake the papers over the trash can and many of the wee nuggets are vanquished.

It is not a perfect system.  Some days the bottoms of my socks still look like they have a Seussical pox, but the slick paper playmats cut clean-up time substantially.


***Baby Toolkit is a collection of hacks, coughs, and observations from a couple geeky Midwestern parents.  We're Amazon affiliates, so a portion of purchases made through our links goes toward our dreams of a giant Batsignal spotlight.

Yet Another Barf Tip: Hairstyling Cape

Late last night, Scout reminded us of the incident that inspired our 2007 post Barf-a-rama: Coming Too Soon To A Home Near You.  The spontaneous stroll down this particular toddler memory lane was like a parenting pop-quiz on a chapter long-forgotten.

We scored high on items like EXTRA SHEETS, but sadly that particular point was irrelevant as the eruption landed solely on a handmade pillow (Sorry, Mimi-n-Moe's Mom, but it does wash beautifully!).  I entirely forgot #2 and immediately thought, "Hey, that's the last of it."  Thus I earned a second pair of chunkalicious pajamas to launder.

Once we realized that our child should be treated as an erratic fire hose of digestive destruction, I reached behind the door and grabbed our easily washable, water resistant nylon hairstyling cape.*  A couple snaps later Scout's clean jammies were shielded by her "Sick Cape."  Nothing like a barfing, backwards caped superhero. I would normally offer action shots, but the simultaneous unsubscribes might break Feedburner.

And after a few more rounds of awful, all the exhausted citizens of our little patch of Gotham slept soundly in clean, warm beds and jammies.

Yes, this book.

*I cut Jim's hair: sometimes well, sometimes badly.  My only "training" consists of a VHS tape that came with the clippers and the 1978 manual Haircutting the Professional Way by Bruno from my parents' house   It started during our potato years (we couldn't even afford salad) as a cost cutting measure, but Jim prefers it (despite the risks) because he doesn't have to make small talk with a barber or stylist.


***Baby Toolkit is the work-in-progress of a some slightly bloodshot geek parents raising an energetic clutch of wee people this side of the Land of Nod.  We're Amazon affiliates, so a percentage of purchases made through our links (you know you want that Bruno book) bring us that much closer to owning our own decommissioned nuclear silo on the windy plains.  Thanks for reading Baby Toolkit!

Out D*mn'd Spot: Another Great Stain Fighter

I love shopping second-hand with Mimi-n-Moe's Mom. We were at a rummage sale when she commented on how beautifully stain-free a seller's kids' clothes were. This scored us the best find of the day.

The mom uses Dawn dish washing foam to remove stains. If she cannot hand scrub the stain out with Dawn alone she adds a little baking soda "and that takes out most anything."

While I still often use Dial bar soap for a stain-remover, this is one hot tip. Dawn works quickly, and stains take less time to remove. If using a front loader or other high efficiency washer, wash the Dawn out thoroughly before laundering.

I've tried Dawn and baking soda against some stains that went through the dryer and while it lightened the stains considerably it did not fully remove them. I've placed the articles in direct sunlight to see if the remaining stains fade out, but we haven't had many sunny days lately.

***Baby Toolkit is not affiliated with Dawn nor its parent companies. We aren't laundry professionals though we're well on our way to the 10,000 hours required for mastery. Not to brag, but we seem to be naturally gifted in the field of entropy.