My bathroom smells like pee.
On more than one occasion, I have considered making this the title of my blog, because it seems to be a reccuring theme in my life.
But yesterday, the pee smell was taken to a whole new level.
We have three kids that live within one or two houses of us here in our neighborhood. I have, in the past, expressed my concerns of letting Brother play with these children. But I have recently lifted my restrictions somewhat and allow him to play with them as long as I can see them and have some supervision. One of the boys, we'll call him Jack, is 10, maybe 11 years old. He has some developmental and learning disabilities, so I try to be especially careful. Not that I think he is a bad kid, but he is nearing adolescence and I'm just not 100% certain my children should be left alone with him.
Yesterday, about five minutes after arriving home from our short weekend trip to see inlaws, the kids knocked on our door, asking for Brother to come out.
The weather was gorgeous. Brother had been with his family all weekend. He was itching to play boy games. So I let him go out and play. I had the windows open. I could hear and see what was going on.
They played tag and a really great game of hide and seek. Brother and another boy actually hid in our sandbox, quietly hiding under the lid. Before long, Jack knocked at the door asking to use the restroom.
I hesitated.
"Uh, sure. Come on in."
He was in there only a few minutes. I never heard "tinkle tunes". I never heard the toilet flush. I never heard the water run.
A bit disconcerting.
He came out, smiling sheepishly, with a bright, wet spot on the front of his red shorts, and went back outside.
Uh-oh.
"I think Jack had an accident," I said to my husband, as soon as the boy was out of earshot.
"YOU LET HIM USE OUR BATHROOM??!!!"
If I have concerns about Jack, Hubby has deep-seated issues that go way beyond unnerving. He feels Jack's entire family is disturbed and needs psychiatric help.
Hubby looks into the bathroom and notices that Jack did not even remove Sister's padded Blue's Clues potty ring that sits on the toilet seat. "AW, MAN!!" is his response. We also see a towel on the floor.
And a very strong urine odor, wafting from the doorway.
I go in to inspect the damage.
Turns out, poor Jack made a puddle in the floor, which he tried to cover up with the towel. Sister's potty ring was also hit.
I cleaned up the potty ring and mopped the floor, certain that would rectify the situation.
But there was more.
About 11:00 last night, while taking a break from homework, I noticed the bathroom still smelled. I mean, REALLY smelled. Just in front of the toilet, there is still, what looks like, a dried puddle.
How did I miss that?!
So I break out the bathroom cleaner, spraying the toilet and the floor surrounding it and I scrub both, desperate to rid my house of the stench.
This morning...
...it still stinks.
I follow my nose aorund the bathroom only to find that Jack's aim is far reaching. It would appear he sprayed the wall and the vanity next to the toilet.
You know, it's one thing to clean up after your own kids. But someone else's?
I'm off to Wal-Mart to clear their shelf of all things Clorox and see if I can find a HASMAT suit.
In the meantime, I think I'll stop off at the truckstop and use their restroom. It smells better.
24 comments:
Oh, I couldn't have read this at a better time. We've recently been through a dry spell (HA!) here in Texas and some cracks opened up under our house, causing one of the septic lines (directly under the master bathroom) to slightly separate, causing a major backup. Our second bathroom had been under construction and didn't have a potty in it; just a hole in the floor with a Wal-Mart sack stuffed in it. Umm, that was fun to clean up, too. It's a good thing I owned several pairs of surgical gloves!
Oh, and we have carpet in the master bathroom that apparently has some sort of super-soaker capability. Whee!
My bathroom smells like pee a lot, and not because of someone else's child. It's MY child - ugh.
I had one particular time I couldn't get to the root cause of the odor and discovered later that my son's aim (or lack of) had gotten the shower curtain and that was where the odor kept resurfacing from.
so...check your shower curtain - lol ;)
Yuck! No fun. It's bad enough cleaning up after our own kids, but it always smells worse when it is from someone else's kids. Next time give Jack a bottle outside and have him aim in there ..that might work?..Or, atleast it would save on the clorox.
You poor thing! We have neighbor kids like that. They all have very frightening white-blonde hair. My Dh and I call them
"the children of the corn". They like to ask to play with DD and DS, but they are never allowed. Poor kids once told me, from the screen door of my house that my house "Smells so CLEAN". Poor kids. Their home is the reason that I am getting fogged for roaches today, but that's a story for another day. :P
I have the same type of problem with my own two boys. For some reason they are unable to hit the giant hole in the center of the toilet. How hard is it, you know? At least it's their mess I'm cleaning up, not the neighbors!
We encourage the "sit down" rule in our house with our son, age 6. I'm sure you'll never let Jack back in your house, but if by some chance you have to, just tell him that in 'our house we sit down to use the bathroom'.
Boy, 10 yrs old and can't go to the bathroom normally....that's a big concern. We have a neighbor who sounds similar, only ours is 20 (just graduated high school, still mowing lawns for his income). We are very cautious and don't allow our children alone with him. He once asked if he could bring all 3 to his house to use the pool. Uh, don't think so.
-Krissy
AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....... EWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! (((hugs)))
ewwwww.
I had the same problem, but with one of my son's little female friends (they were both 4 at the time). I have no idea how she did it, but she managed to ruin a bathroom scale, stain our trashcan, and get it under the tank on the toilet. (My daughter isn't potty trained yet, so I can't say how this accident could have happened - I thought girls were cleaner than boys!)
FYI - I still had that urine smell four months later (as of last week), so I completely took off the toilet seat, & disassembled the entire thing - yep, pee can get into the screws & into the holes the screws go into - I soaked the whole thing taken apart in hot bleach water in the tub... so you may want to check there, too. Since I disinfected those areas, the smell has disappeared.
ewwww.... I have girls, one of whom seems to have accidents when she sees the toilet... she cleans it up herself now! but come on... someone else's kid? But, what do you do? Teach him to pee outside next time he asks?
nasty, that is all I can say, except maybe, gross!
And can I just be the first to say that boy pee smells ten times worse than girl pee? Sorry, I had to go there....
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I needed that. And thanks for the laugh here. I needed that too. :)
Aaaw. Poor kid. I hate to see how his parents keep their house! My heart goes out to kids like that. oh, and I hope the bathroom stench leaves!!!!
You're so sweet and discreet! I'm the lady who calls EVERY visiting child on their hygeine, "Did you wash your hands?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"With soap?"
"Uh huh."
Come here and let me smell.
I usually only have to do that once for all my girls' little friends to know that I mean business.
As someone told me after 2 weeks of turning my house and head upside down because of lice I got from treating another person's child for lice: you have been a blessing to that child, and "hands-on" friends/ mentors get messy (and licey) sometimes. I have had the opportunity of cleaning other people's toilets and it makes me VERY thankful for my college education that keeps me from doing that as a career. And -- I think taking the toilet completely apart is a great idea! He does seem to be fairly far-reaching!
Tried to post a comment last night but Blogger wasn't cooperating.
I have to say my first thought after reading this was #1 that kid would NEVER be using my bathroom again. #2 that was just completely disgusting!
I have to agree with your husband Supermom...I would also have my doubts about said family.
Head over and check out CCjellybeans post today...she's got a great air freshener that might help.
I've sprayed my bathroom walls down with Febreeze before. It actually helps.
I have really enjoyed reading yor blogg for the last few months and I was wondering if it would be ok to list a link to it on my blogg. Thank you for your time ACostlow
You know, at ten years old, I'm wondering if he didn't INTEND to spray it everywhere. Maybe not, but it seems extreme. I know you said he has developmental and learning disabilities so maybe it really was an accident. Sorry that you had to clean it all up! Yeeeuck!!
I agree with LL - it very well could have been intentional. If so, that is so sad and disturbing!
By the way, as soon as I finished reading your post, I marched straight into the boys' bathroom and "Cloroxed" the toilet! I also had a talk with my 7 year old about "aim" what I'd do to him if he EVER sprayed the walls/floor in any home, at church, or at school! Maybe I went a little overboard? LOL!!
I'd like to think I keep their bathroom clean, but a boy's toilet can never be "Cloroxed" enough!
All you Mommies...
Oh, the stories I could tell you of boys and their practice and games of 'aiming.'
Even in college. Especially in dorms.
You'd cry.
i appreciate your care for this child. you are being wise in supervising when he is visiting and in this one situation, you had to clean the bathroom. obviously, he couldn't figure out how to remove the child seat on the toilet. i'm sure his embarrassment must have been huge! if he were the type of child who was going to pee in the yard, i'm sure he would have.
from the sound of things, you are the only christians in this boy's life. it is no accident that you are placed in that neighborhood and that he and your son have become friends.
do you know how many christian leaders came from totally ungodly backgrounds but were touched by a person or family that loved them and ministered to them?
it is sad to read the many comments that glorify a clean house over the soul of a child. i don't think people think it through, but i think you handled the situation well...with a slight attitude change over what happened. who are you cleaning up for? if this incident has eternal purposes and is the beginning of an eternal relationship for this little boy, isn't a messy bathroom occasionally, worth it? and think of what you are teaching your children? or what you want to teach them? your son may well have the gift of evangelism...friendship evangelism. if you are able to supervise as you have been, the power of God in your family is greater than the power of the Evil One around you. This is radical hospitality. It is what all of us are called to do. your family has a mission field and you are in the middle of it. will you get dirty--absolutely! so will your house. and every minute of it will be worth it when you stand before God. i will pray for you and this little boy. it is obvious he and his family need Christ. martha
I know this was a disaster for you and a real pain. It is obvious that this child has special needs. i thought perhaps he couldnt remove the child seat and couldnt figure it out.I think if he didnt care he wouldnt have used the towel to at least try to clean it up.
Your hubby is probably right in thinking they need help, but Iam sure there are issues if this child has this problem.
You could keep him out of your house or perhaps use this opportunity to tell him IF he uses your bathroom again you expect him to not miss the toilet.I feel bad for the child I guess.
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