Laundry Detergent Update and Making Crayons

I used the laundry detergent on the load of diapers which included some quite nasty ones. After the first wash, instead of just starting the wash again like I normally do, I pulled out the diapers one by one and examined them and smelled them. This isn't really a fair test as I have never done this, not even once, with my regular detergents (Tide or Wisk). Most of the diapers were spotless and completely odorless. One of the diapers was obviously a poopy diaper and still had a very faint coloring and a few of them still smelled when I put my nose very close. After the second wash, they were all clean when I pulled them out. I went ahead and ran them again since that is what I am comfortable with. After going through the dryer, I put my nose to every diaper and none had a scent. I'm also going to mention that my nose is extremely sensitive and Q says that my pregnancy nose hasn't gone away. So I would say that it looks like the detergent is definitely good. There is absolutely no trace of the scent of the essential oil I added and I used 1/4 teaspoon, so I'm not sure if I would even add it at all in the future or quadruple the amount.

The nerdlet asked what we were going to make today when she got up. I was already planning on melting crayons so that is what we did, but when she asked I wondered if I shouldn't pull back a little on all the things I've been trying to do lately so she didn't come to expect it and get upset if I didn't have a major activity planned.

I've been saving the broken crayons since the nerdlet was a baby. Most of them were crayons from restaurants or that were stepped on by either me or Q. My girls tend to be very gentle with their crayons so I can't really blame them. You can see the fancy storage container I use for the broken crayons here. The brown silicon pan is for brownie pops. The other two are for regular muffins.

These are the broken crayons distributed in the pans. I used very little in the brownie pop pan on purpose and distributed the rest as evenly as I could in the smaller of the regular muffin pans.

This is what they looked like straight out of the oven that was set at 375 degrees F. I left them in just until they looked pretty melted, but I didn't time it so I can't really tell how long. If I had to guess I would say about 10-15 minutes.

You should wait until they are completely cooled. If you don't this is what happens.

No problem though because I just remelted them. This time I used the microwave. Did you know silicone pans are microwaveable?

Here are the smaller ones from the brownie pop pan, which I did wait until they cooled completely. I don't know if the clear wax that separated out was because of the large variety of crayons I used or if they were overheated from being such as small amount and cooked at the same temp and for the same time as the much larger muffin pan. I suspect the latter. It is wax though so easy enough to remove.

Here is the reason why I chose the brownie pop pan and why I made them so small. They are perfect for little hands and also perfect for teaching the correct grasp for holding a writing utensil. They are so perfect that if crayons are still on sale for school starting I will buy some specifically for making into these shapes.

If you have a little one that is starting to write, especially one that has special needs and will need to develop the right finger and hand positions, I cannot recommend this enough. Both the nerdlet and the bear cub showed that they can and will hold these the correct way and didn't have to be shown. Even the muffin tin crayons make them hold it between their fingers, but the brownie pop crayons were definitely better at getting the exact finger position.