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Tuesday 25 September 2012

I Dared To Take A Shower



Do you ever get the urge to do something totally crazy? That’s what happened to me today. It was 8:00 am and after being awakened by my daughter at 5:00 this morning, I really really wanted to take a shower.

But naptime isn’t until noon.  I normally only shower during naptime or after my daughter’s bedtime because I fear that if I do it while she’s awake, she will have a freak-out in her play pen mid-shower, causing me to have to cut my shower short and endure the rest of the day with shampooey hair. Not my idea of a good time.

But today was different. Today I decided to live on the edge. Today I put my daughter in the play pen and took a shower.

I filled the play pen with the most awesome and exciting toys that I could find, left the bathroom door open so I could hear what she was up to (you know in case the baby monitor stopped working which I also brought with me. Yes, I’m that mom), and I crossed my fingers.  

To my surprise and delight, there was not a single complaint from the little prisoner.  In fact, from what I could hear, she was having quite the party in there. It was smooth sailing.

Until the smoke detector went off. 

Yup. Probably shouldn’t have left the bathroom door open. Didn’t think of that.  I jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and ran out of the bathroom (just in case there really was a fire).  There was not. Okay, good. No problem. I’ll just turn off the smoke detector. How do I turn it off? Crap. Okay, maybe I just unscrew it and there’s an off switch inside. No. There isn’t.

So I called my husband at work, feeling like a giant fool, standing on a chair in a towel, soaking the floor with my wet hair, trying not to get electrocuted and swearing to myself that I will learn how to work the house before the next time he goes out of town (or to work for the day). 

“You probably shouldn’t have unscrewed it. There are live wires in there.”

Thanks. 

He told me how to turn it off and I actually managed to follow his instructions. There’s a button (on the outside). You press it.  

Fortunately, my daughter sat there calmly throughout the entire incident.  No freak-outs. Me, on the other hand…For what it’s worth, I did try to step out of my comfort zone, and I did, indeed, take a shower.  

I won’t be doing that ever again.

34 comments:

  1. I guess the smoke detector couldn't tell the difference between smoke and steam. But your daughter passed this test with flying colors.

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    1. Yes, if only she knew how to turn off smoke detectors as well. Too much to ask?

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  2. A shower is such a luxury these days...isn't it? I remember when my first was a baby I used to occasionally put the exersaucer in the bathroom so I could shower! I'm so sorry that the smoke detector ruined it for you!!

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    1. I've tried the exersaucer thing, but she gets bored and irritated pretty quickly. That's why I was so skeptical about the play pen while shower scenario. But she had a great time!

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  3. When my kids were little, I'd bring them right in the bathroom with me in either the bouncy seat or the highchair when they got a little older. Throw some snacks on the high chair tray and they were usually good until I was done with my shower! Although sometimes they would throw their food and I'd end up with cheerios stuck to me in weird spots...

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    1. Hahah. Never thought about the high chair idea!

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  4. I try to wait until my daughter is napping too. The entire time I'm paranoid and my mind invents sounds that clearly aren't her. When I get out the first thing I do is check on her. If she's still asleep and in the same position, I celebrate with a silent fist pump.

    As Stephen mentions, I'm happy your daughter passed though :)

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    1. I just bring the monitor in the bathroom with me and turn it up to the top volume. I know what you mean about inventing noises though!

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  5. I had that happen too and the whole fire department came,lol!

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    1. That's hilarious! Just be thankful that your taxes are going to good use!

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  6. Motherhood is so glamourous, isn't it? The lengths we go to for a shower. Once a necessity, now a luxury!

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    1. I'm thinking that now that showering is such a big deal, I can add it to my list of "hobbies".

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  7. haha! Sorry to laugh, but I am picturing it now, and can totally see myself doing the same thing! I definitely understand though. Showers only happen for me while my little one (14 months) is asleep too! I trust my older one to watch TV now (he's 3.5), but it took awhile to get to that point. :)

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    1. Good to know I only have 2.5 years to go until I can shower at will.

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  8. Well that'll teach ya for living on the edge. So glad you didn't electrocute yourself. BTW, SO something I would do!

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  9. I am just wowed that you gave it a go AND that you figured out how to turn it. A for effort and you obviously have earned an award for being a technological genius!

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    1. Absolutely. They should give me an honorary engineering degree for this one, right?

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  10. I don't think I would have known how to turn mine off either. I probably would have stood there doing the old wave a towel in the air near it until it shuts up. Kinda like we did as kids when mom set dinner on fire (almost every night!). Not sure if that would work with the newer alarms.

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    1. I actually tried that first. It might have worked had a done it for more than 10 seconds...but I'm impatient. Pestering my husband at work seemed like the more logical solution.

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  11. Gosh just when you get one side up doesn't the other fall flat! It does get better but I'll be honest: my kids are 4 and 19 months and I still can barely get a quick shower in privacy.

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  12. Remind me to tell you my fire alarm story next time I see you... I called Chris from another province expecting him to help me...not my finest moment. :)

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  13. Foolish woman. Mothers aren't allowed to shower! And smoke detectors make no sense whatsoever. My husband always pulls ours out of the ceiling when it goes off. Which is mainly while we are cooking and everything is just fine.

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    1. They should really have instructions in big letters on the outside. Like, "See this big button? Press it."

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  14. Living on the edge, woman. On. The. Edge. Rock on.

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  15. Ha! Our house alarm battery was almost dead about a week ago and since my husband neglected the occasional beep-beeps in favor of say, NOT changing the battery, it got so low it decided to go off CONTINUOUSLY when he was not here. Nothing could be done to turn it off, well, that I could figure out, and so in the midst of some of the worse noise-induced stress I've ever experienced, I ripped it off the wall. Yeah. Maybe a tad bit hasty.
    Stay dirty!

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    1. You made the right move, for sure. When in doubt, DESTROY!

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  16. Good lord I hate fire detectors!! Ours goes off at 3am every time hubby is out of town. I rip them out of the ceiling! At least you tried.

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