By far, in both page views and comments, my most popular post is one I wrote a little over two years ago about how my daughter smeared Desitin cream all over herself and everything she could get her hands on. After a failed internet search, I was pleading for a way to clean . . . → Read More: How to get Silly Putty out of clothes – 7 day challenge]]> In the 7 day challenge, today’s topic is: Write a blog post on the same topic as one of my most popular posts.

By far, in both page views and comments, my most popular post is one I wrote a little over two years ago about how my daughter smeared Desitin cream all over herself and everything she could get her hands on. After a failed internet search, I was pleading for a way to clean the goop up without wrecking the rug and blankets. Apparently, this is a common problem with 2 year olds. I’ve had a steady stream of visitors commenting, almost exclusively mothers of 2 year olds, some with suggestions and most with thanks for those who’ve already shared. (The most popular solution seems to be Dawn dish soap, but it depends on what’s affected. Here is the ‘chemist-approved’ solution.)

So I thought for today’s challenge I’d revisit the idea of helping mothers figure out how to clean frustrating things out of clothing.

This one’s not nearly as hard, but it is a source of pain at our house. And it’s my fault (or so my wife thinks) because I supplied the material to the kids.

I really enjoyed Silly Putty as a kid. Heck, I still enjoy it today. It’s a fun ball of goo! What’s not to like?

This summer our street participated in a neighborhood yard sale, and one of our neighbors had a bunch of Silly Putty for a ridiculously cheap price – so we got a couple. Then my kids played with it and had a good time. Awesome.

Then my kids lost the “egg” containers and the putty began to be left around the house. Not so awesome. Not only did it start picking up pieces of fabric (annoying, but not a big deal), it started leaving pieces of itself in different fabrics. That’s when my wife got annoyed.

She tried freezing the putty encrusted clothing and then breaking it off, with limited success. I’m honestly not sure if she tried anything else, but the clothes eventually disappeared from the freezer, so she either succeeded, gave up, or threw the clothes out. I really wasn’t paying attention, so I don’t know. And I don’t want to ask.

For some reason I didn’t think to search the web for the best way to clean this stuff, but now that I have I’ve found this article on eHow, which boils down to this:

1. Pull the material taut.
2. Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and rub it on the putty until it won’t accept any more.
3. Use a butter knife to scrape the Silly Putty off.
4. Wash the clothes.

There you go. Done.

It also says you can use WD-40, but that may damage the fabric, so test first if you want to do that.

Now, it’s 2 years later. My . . . → Read More: What is it with this kid?]]> Two years ago we caught my then 2-year old daughter slathering herself (and the rug, and the covers, and the bed) with Desitin cream. My resulting distress was recorded in what has become my most popular blog post by far. Apparently, this is not an uncommon problem with 2-year-olds. I’m glad the post has helped others in their quest for cleaning and to help them realize they’re not alone.

Now, it’s 2 years later. My daughter is 4. She learned her lesson that night 2 years ago and hasn’t made a mess with Desitin since then (of course, we learned our lesson as well, and kept it away from her, mostly). It has been awesome to be able to trust her and not deal with this kind of clean-up anymore.

Apparently she’s not over her obsession with greasy substances, however.

Her older sister has had a cold lately and has been blowing her nose a lot. Her nose has gotten pretty raw from all the tissues. It seems to help to rub a little Vaseline on her nose, so we’ve been doing that. The younger one felt left out (sometimes it’s tough being the little sister), so we’ve put a little under her nose, too, from time to time. Harmony has ensued.

Until today.

She had been sent upstairs to take some newly-purchased toilet paper to the bathroom. She was going to come back downstairs to watch TV with me. After a while I wondered where she was, realizing that I hadn’t heard her at all in about 20 minutes. I went upstairs to find her standing in the bathroom with her face, arms, chest, and even one leg covered in Vaseline. There was also some in her long hair. The previously slightly used jar was 3/4 gone. There was a long line of toilet paper hanging off the sink, also covered in Vaseline. The toilet paper left on the roll was obviously unrolled and re-rolled… and the Vaseline fingerprints on it left no doubt as to the culprit.

Under intense questioning she claimed she needed to cover herself in Vaseline because her hands,  face, and leg “hurt.”

Did I mention she was still dressed? She put the Vaseline on under her clothes.

I don’t know what it is with this kid and slimy, greasy substances, but I think she’d be very happy to be entered in a greased pig contest — as the pig. Nobody would be able to hang on to her.

Somebody please, prove me wrong. Add a comment here with the solution.

I’ve tried using diaper wipes. That’s successful to a point, but not totally. On the carpet we tried shampooing after first using diaper wipes, and then blotting with soap and water. We still have spots . . . → Read More: How to get Desitin cream out of… well… everything]]> How do you get Desitin diaper rash cream out of carpets, sheets, clothes, blankets, or any other cloth item? If my experience so far is accurate, you can’t.

Somebody please, prove me wrong. Add a comment here with the solution.

I’ve tried using diaper wipes. That’s successful to a point, but not totally. On the carpet we tried shampooing after first using diaper wipes, and then blotting with soap and water. We still have spots on the carpet. That frustrated me for a good week, until I finally accepted that I couldn’t do anything about it.

See, a while back my wife and I were relaxing in the morning while our kids played elsewhere. Eventually I (or maybe it was my wife) went in to see what the 2-year old was doing and found her covered from the waist down with diaper rash cream, which was also all over the carpet, the closet doors, and the side of the changing table.

Hours of cleaning later, we are left with the aforementioned spots, and the knowledge that we can’t leave our 2-year old alone with the Desitin tube.

Fast forward to tonight, a month or two after the previous incident. We’re downstairs getting ready to watch a movie – something we’ve been looking forward to for a while. My wife says it sound like one of the kids is trying to come downstairs. I think she’s nuts. I didn’t hear anything, and it’s been almost an hour since the kids were put to bed, plus they were tired from trick-or-treating. But I’ve learned that she hears more things than I do, usually, so I went upstairs to check. I was right. No one was coming downstairs. But as I stood and listened, the 2-year old’s door opened and she started to come out. Okay, so my wife did hear something (good thing I didn’t tell her I thought she was nuts). So I picked my daughter up and put her back in bed.

In the dark, as I gave her a kiss and pulled the covers up, I felt the thick slime on my hands. “What the heck?” I thought. It took me a couple seconds before the realization and feeling of dread hit. When I threw the lights on my fear was confirmed. There on the bottom of the bed was the now almost empty tube of Desitin, wrapped in the bedsheet, the cream spread over the sheet and the two hand-knitted blankets we had received as gifts. Globs of the stuff, some sitting on, and some ground in to the blankets’ weaves. Obviously, we had forgotten to put the cream away tonight. Amazingly, I didn’t detect any of the goop on my daughter. She must have protected herself with the sheet as she squeezed the life out of the tube.

It may be relevant for you to know that I hate creams. Diaper creams, hand creams, face creams, first aid creams… about the only creams I like are ice cream and whipped cream. I just hate how they feel and smell. Slimy, slippery, and sticky, all at the same time – the filmy residue, impossible to completely remove. I honestly can’t understand why people choose to use them when they have other options. They are an “only when necessary” evil for me.

So I’m sure you can imagine the fun I’ve had over the last hour trying in vain to remove as much of the cream as possible from these blankets.

I hate creams.

I’m almost willing to toss the sheet. I’d really like to save these blankets, though. So what do you say? Any ideas?

Seriously. I’m begging. I know this will eventually come up again. I’ll take any idea. Leave a comment. Please.