This is such a ridiculous problem, yet every time I encounter it, I'm unsure what to do. Most of the time, I shower at night after the kids have gone to bed. Once in a blue moon, for one reason or another, I need to shower in the morning when the kids are awake. It happened to me last month and I frantically texted my girlfriend who also has twin toddlers, "What do I do?!?!" There are a multitude of reasons as to why this is such a problem.
#1. I can't shower at naptime.
Last month, we officially separated the boys for naptime. We now have a Pack'N'Play standing in our room full time. Since our bedroom is very small in the first place, it is perpetually in the way. But we deal with it because now it takes less than 2 hours for the toddlers to fall asleep at naptime. What does this mean for showering? To shower at naptime, I would need to get all my shower stuff, my make up, my hair stuff, and my clothes (though I never can decide what I want to wear until I've tried on every garment in my wardrobe). I have done this nomadic shower before. It is annoying.
#2. Toddlers can't be trusted.
Inevitably, someone gets hurt. Something goes wrong. They get locked in a battle to the death over a rubber ducky. Whatever it is, I don't trust them loose in the playroom/sunroom and I don't trust them loose in their bedroom together. Whenever they are loose in a room together, I keep having to run in because I hear the intense "I'm dying" scream, only it turns out one of the toddlers is sitting on the other's favorite blanket. I can't leave one in the sunroom and one in their bedroom because the sunroom has too many things to climb on, too many potential problems, and it is too far away from the shower for me to hear what's going on. It is a great place for the kids to play when I'm in the kitchen, close by and ready to swoop in. I also picture threats in their bedroom. I can totally see them climbing up their dresser. Yikes.
#3. Preschoolers can't be trusted.
Our four-year old loves his brothers to pieces and his brothers love him to pieces. However, his brothers love to wrestle and he loves to wrestle. When they giddily throw themselves on him (every time he sits down), I can't trust him not to start rolling around or playing horsey. That definitely requires a Momma close by to end those shenanigans. He also likes to play with non-toddler proof toys: Legos, Playmobile play sets, Playdoh, little kid scissors and construction paper, the tape dispenser... I can picture him shuttling these dangerous items through the room to his "work station" and dropping something the toddlers shouldn't have (or getting bumrushed). Not good.
Yesterday I gathered up some noisy toys-- V-tech laptops, Fisher Price pianos, singing Play and Learn Puppies-- and put them in their cribs. I then put the toddlers in the cribs, put on a movie for the preschooler, and jumped in the shower. About two minutes into my shower, I heard a loud BANG followed by... nothing. No cry, no "uh-oh," nothing. Panic sets in. I run out of the shower into the toddlers' room to find every toy that I had put in their cribs thrown out onto the floor. I'm guessing the loud bang was the V-tech laptop that somehow made it all the way across the room (one of the toddlers may have a pretty good arm on him). They look over at Momma and throw their arms up, "MAH! MAH! MAH!" I babble, "Momma needs to finish showering; Momma will be back; I love you...." as I throw more toys back in their cribs. I leave the room to betrayed outrage. I know those cries translated to, "We did everything we could to get her in here and she still leaves us? How dare she!" By the time my shower was over, my stress levels were through the roof. I really think one of the toddlers-- now 18-months old-- is days away from throwing himself head first out of the crib. Every noise panicked me. (Why the hell didn't I buy a video monitor??? Would that even help while I'm showering??)
But, all I did was shower. I still had to get ready. I threw on some clothes, let my hair dry with some product in it, and did my make-up in the boys' bathroom during naptime. I ended up pulling my hair back to go out later that day because my hair was so flat and wild (only my hair could be both flat and wild, I swear). Who knew that something as simple as showering could be such a problem?
How do you handle this situation?
#1. I can't shower at naptime.
Last month, we officially separated the boys for naptime. We now have a Pack'N'Play standing in our room full time. Since our bedroom is very small in the first place, it is perpetually in the way. But we deal with it because now it takes less than 2 hours for the toddlers to fall asleep at naptime. What does this mean for showering? To shower at naptime, I would need to get all my shower stuff, my make up, my hair stuff, and my clothes (though I never can decide what I want to wear until I've tried on every garment in my wardrobe). I have done this nomadic shower before. It is annoying.
#2. Toddlers can't be trusted.
Inevitably, someone gets hurt. Something goes wrong. They get locked in a battle to the death over a rubber ducky. Whatever it is, I don't trust them loose in the playroom/sunroom and I don't trust them loose in their bedroom together. Whenever they are loose in a room together, I keep having to run in because I hear the intense "I'm dying" scream, only it turns out one of the toddlers is sitting on the other's favorite blanket. I can't leave one in the sunroom and one in their bedroom because the sunroom has too many things to climb on, too many potential problems, and it is too far away from the shower for me to hear what's going on. It is a great place for the kids to play when I'm in the kitchen, close by and ready to swoop in. I also picture threats in their bedroom. I can totally see them climbing up their dresser. Yikes.
#3. Preschoolers can't be trusted.
Our four-year old loves his brothers to pieces and his brothers love him to pieces. However, his brothers love to wrestle and he loves to wrestle. When they giddily throw themselves on him (every time he sits down), I can't trust him not to start rolling around or playing horsey. That definitely requires a Momma close by to end those shenanigans. He also likes to play with non-toddler proof toys: Legos, Playmobile play sets, Playdoh, little kid scissors and construction paper, the tape dispenser... I can picture him shuttling these dangerous items through the room to his "work station" and dropping something the toddlers shouldn't have (or getting bumrushed). Not good.
Yesterday I gathered up some noisy toys-- V-tech laptops, Fisher Price pianos, singing Play and Learn Puppies-- and put them in their cribs. I then put the toddlers in the cribs, put on a movie for the preschooler, and jumped in the shower. About two minutes into my shower, I heard a loud BANG followed by... nothing. No cry, no "uh-oh," nothing. Panic sets in. I run out of the shower into the toddlers' room to find every toy that I had put in their cribs thrown out onto the floor. I'm guessing the loud bang was the V-tech laptop that somehow made it all the way across the room (one of the toddlers may have a pretty good arm on him). They look over at Momma and throw their arms up, "MAH! MAH! MAH!" I babble, "Momma needs to finish showering; Momma will be back; I love you...." as I throw more toys back in their cribs. I leave the room to betrayed outrage. I know those cries translated to, "We did everything we could to get her in here and she still leaves us? How dare she!" By the time my shower was over, my stress levels were through the roof. I really think one of the toddlers-- now 18-months old-- is days away from throwing himself head first out of the crib. Every noise panicked me. (Why the hell didn't I buy a video monitor??? Would that even help while I'm showering??)
But, all I did was shower. I still had to get ready. I threw on some clothes, let my hair dry with some product in it, and did my make-up in the boys' bathroom during naptime. I ended up pulling my hair back to go out later that day because my hair was so flat and wild (only my hair could be both flat and wild, I swear). Who knew that something as simple as showering could be such a problem?
How do you handle this situation?
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