At 17 months old, Small Sophie finally gifted me with a mess on a white carpet. (She thought it was a game to run away as I chased her with a diaper. I got tired and rested. She also stopped— and made her mess. And stepped in it. Yuck!) Until today, I had been fortunate enough that my daughter had only poo-ed out of her diaper once, and that was on hardwood flooring. Hardwood is easy; pick up the offending object(s), wipe the floor, and let dry. Carpet is different, and white is especially annoying to get stains on. Fortunately, I have experience:
First, I picked up the large pieces and squeezed the small bits off the carpet as best I could.
Then, came a lot of blotting. The roll of paper towels Small Sophie had undone were useful now. I put them under the water, squeezed out a good amount, and then sat down and blotted while feeling willfully determined to finish cleaning my once clean carpet.
After that was scrubbing. 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of dish soap went on all the stains with a toothbrush. The most severe ones I let soak the longest.
There was still more to do! I took out the steam cleaner next. I filled with water and the remainder of my water-vinegar-soap mixture and ran it on deep clean setting.
I was dismayed to see that one faint baby poo stain was still present, so I sprayed that spot with something like Oxiclean and let it sit a bit.
And then I emptied the steam cleaner, refilled with pure water, and ran over the carpet again.
Finally, all traces of Small Sophie’s territorial marking were gone.
But wait! Now, it was time to empty the steam cleaner again and clean all the components so that I can clean the next mess!
I was tired.
