Toddler Trouble

Yesterday morning, I awoke to Josiah shaking me and saying, "Mommy, Ethan wrote on me with a marker! And he also wrote on the couches!" I glanced up and there was my 18 month-old with an open black permanent marker in his hand. YIKES!!! I grabbed it from him, turned to the white leather couches that are in our apartment but belong to Steve's parents, and was horrified to see long black streaks across both of them. Not just one long streak, but groups of 10-15 foot-long streaks.

My first thought was, "Dad's going to kill me" and my second thought was, "This is why I've never owned nice furniture!!!" My thought at the end of the day was, "I've spent the last three years making sure every pair of scissors, pen and marker are up high when I go to bed at night, but this one time, I missed one and look what happened."

Steve went online and found that others have also had this mishap and that alcohol is the recommended remedy. Sure enough, Dad spent 1 1/2 hours scrubbing with rags and almost an entire bottle of rubbing alcohol, but he did indeed get the marks off.
The biggest miracle was that he was so calm about it. I never heard him once raise his voice, though I know he must have been steaming inside.

Our Pet Toad "Germy"

My kids have always wanted a pet, and for the past 6 weeks they have finally "owned" one ... well off and on, you might say. At the end of May Steve and I captured a toad and brought it home for the kids who thoroughly enjoyed playing with it. However, Toad escaped within a few days. Since then we have caught, lost, and caught Toad again numerous times. In fact, our current toad "Germy" is not the same as our first one, but it doesn't matter to the kids.

Naomi loves Toad so much, she wantes to greet him first thing every morning, and give hugs and kisses goodnight. She and Josiah both carry him around, play with him in our wading pool, watch him jump around on the lawn, and love him to pieces.

Yesterday I took the kids to a place called Boxerwood Garden, which has a nice exploratory area for young kids. Naomi insisted we bring Germy with us so that he could see someplace new. So we did! The other kids who were also at the garden loved seeing and holding our toad. They all thought we'd caught him there, but Naomi informed them that he is our PET and that we brought him from home.

To keep food costs down but keep Germy from starving, we'll probably have to let him go today. Naomi says she's okay with this, as long as Dad and I promise to keep an eye out for Toad when she's in bed at night (this is the pattern for when we've caught our previous ones) and catch him again soon.

Refreshing Art

I am realizing more and more how important it is for me to spend some time being artistic on a regular basis. It can be anything from designing and painting shirts, to face-painting, to sketching, coloring or calligraphy. When I leave this part of me high and dry, I get serious and depressed. But when I've just done an hour of face-painting or made a wall-hanging for my nephew, I feel renewed. I've not only used a different part of my brain, I've created something that brings joy and something that reflects who I am.