Sandbox Woes!

Posted by Vulnadia on Apr 14, 2010 at 08:09 AM So, after weeks of begging, pleading & retaliation on the part of my trio, we finally acquired sand for the sandbox. This after the kids broke into my utility room, climbed a shelf, and procurred a bag of miracle grow with which to fill their sandbox...which was their intention... Don't get me wrong, it had dual purpose...you see, Easter weekend, we had planted flowers in the flower beds and they learned that "Miracle Grow" makes flowers grow up faster after you put them to "Bed." Baby logic kicked in, and in some effort to speed up Kian & Kai "Growing up" and learning & wanting to use the potty like "Grown ups" or "Big kids" the babies made a collective decision to try and plant Kai in the flower bed in hopes that he would somehow cultivate the desire to want to "Grow up!" To my kids, all dirt must be "Miracle grow" thus the train of thought of 4yr olds at my house... So, after the Miracle Grow was cleaned up and put back on a higher, different shelf, the kids took to the backyard, found the empty flower bed (which I was planning on placing the sandbox over this one to kill the weeds/grass growing in it rather than clearing it the old fashioned difficult way for planting next year) and proceeded to try and dig holes with their gardening gloves and trowels. Yeppers, they actually really set out to plant their brother in the flower bed. That is where I stumbled upon Kai making what appeared to be "Angels in the dirt" in some attempt at absorbing the necessary stuff to make him "Grow up." Of course Pirate King Kian, who has absolutely NO desire to "Grow up" on the good advice of one Peter Pan, would not be caught dead in that flower bed and was standing guard with pirate hat & coat, brandished sword in hand, watching intently to see if his brother exhibited any sign of change. Vivienne had procurred herself an extra stash of toilet paper just in case the moment really worked and Kai decided that he actually had to go potty... Oh the lengths my kids will go to to achieve a goal. You see, next week is ECE roundup at school and they know that they must be potty trained in order to start in the fall. Vivienne KNOWS she is good to go as her super powers (Potty power) came to her immediately after watching that motivational video (no vat of toxic waste needed to spark HER super powers, gosh I hope that isn't the next step for them!) But she is super worried that Kian and Kai will not meet their deadline for school and they really really WANT to go to school and meet new kids and play with teacher's toys and check out that park in the school yard... And of course...they really wanted sand in their sandbox too...which was where they decided to try and haul the REST of the dirt they had dug up to use to plant their brother... Everything has dual purpose & use when you are 4... So, husband was finally persuaded and inspired to buy them sand for the sandbox with a peace offering of spongebob & dora gardening trowels for good measure. Yesterday, the babies woke up to a full sandbox and spent the ENTIRE day wallowing and playing in it...quite literally. Then, I ran into a problem...They literally had bathed in the sand, and had it in places nobody likes to get sand & it STUCK to them fast! So, how does one easily remove sand from the children? We sped bathed them after husband tried using wipies to no avail, but there HAS to be an easier way...or so you would think. So, does anyone know of an easier way to rid the kids of sand before bed? Even after a good bath, they STILL had some in their hair!!! I need help! only my daughter will set foot in the shower...the boys are PETRIFIED of even the idea of it ...we tried that one not too long ago... though they seemed receptive to the idea of hosing off outside so who knows! i ended up bathing, then brushing the rest out as best as i could for what it was worth... but it was icky! ~Mimi