Laundering by hand

I scrunched up the dirty tablecloth and proceeded to dunk it in the washer for washing. Then it struck me how uneconomical that is; to use the electricity and water just for washing a meager tablecloth by itself.

I decided to wash it by hand myself and climbed the stairs. It had occurred to me as I was trudging up the stairs that I probably am not in the best condition to bend down, squat and scrub away at the tablecloth in the bathtub. I saw H and motioned him to come near.

"I'm going to teach you how to wash this ok?"

He nodded, excited. Apparently, he wasn't aware of the elbow grease involved in laundering by hand, as I had encountered growing up in a boarding school.

"When I was younger I had to do this," I told him.

I turned on the faucet and soaked the tablecloth, handed him the red brush (which we had brought from Malaysia since we couldn't find any here) and told him to scrub it.

"Do I put soap?" he asked.

I nodded.

I soon left him with his 'chore'.

A few minutes later, we heard him chattering away to himself.

"...and then you wash all the soap off..."

"This is COOL!"

"This is COOL!"

I popped in and saw that he had gone in the bathtub, water runnning, and soap suds all over the place. What do you expect when you give a child soap and water in the bathroom? I chuckled and told him to make sure the bathrugs stay dry.

He closed the shower curtain and I told the girls to close the bathroom door so his chattering won't distract our salat.

I checked on him again, and voila! He had changed from his long sleeved shirt and long pants to his sleeveless shirt and denim shorts. To top it off, he was completely drenched! He looked at me with a big happy grin on his face, both arms up in the air like a V, and white soap suds dotting his crown. I couldn't help but exhale a surprised "Ya Allah!"

"Did you rinse the tablecloth?" I asked. (At least the job was done, what do you expect from a six year old?)

"Yeah!"

"Here, let me show you how to rinse it really dry," I said.

"But I did rinse it," came his answer, his expected answer to every correction I give him, be it in Quran recitation or secular stuff.

I showed him anyway, while he tried to brush the soap suds on his spiky hair away.

"So you think you can wash the tablecloth from now on?" I asked him when everything was done and cleaned. (The tablecloth was really clean, by the way. He did a good job!)

He nodded.

"Good," I said, and shooed him off for his Seerah lesson with HH, who was already waiting in their room.

So I guess I got myself a chatty launderer! It's good entertainment too. Two in one.