Preface: Zeb has fallen in love with art. We have been working a lot lately on writing his letters and we practice on his easel, usually with the whiteboard since it erases a little easier than the chalk. I'm assuming that is where the problem came from...and now that I've gotten to the point of laughing about this, it can be posted.
About a month ago: On Monday Zeb and Abby were both in need of a nap, so into their room they went. I went downstairs to do some cleaning. A while later, I heard some suspicious noises so I started to come upstairs. As I turned the corner on the stairs I saw Zeb standing in front of my washing machine stark naked! I asked him what he thought he was doing and he replied, "Mom, I need to take a bath and do laundry". Instead of napping, he had made a huge mess with the baby powder, then decided that he couldn't live with the mess. So, he stripped down and put his clothes in the washer. He then proceeded to climb on top of the machine to reach the liquid detergent, put some in the dispenser (he's watched me do it several times), spill a nice amount on the carpet, and get caught by me. Luckily I had the child-lock activated on the machine so he couldn't actually start the load. I soon discovered that Zeb also had the idea to explore in my room while he should have been napping. The result was him trying to paint his own toenails and do some artwork with a black permanent marker on my wall and closet mirror doors. I have no idea where he got the marker from. When I asked he just said that he was coloring. He was "busted big time" with a very stern talking-to and lots of quiet time and I hoped the problem was resolved. (Don't worry, pictures are included soon!)
Tuesday morning we went to Lowe's and Home Depot in search of cleaning products for his recent events. Who knew it could be so hard to clean up laundry detergent from carpet (without having a wet/dry vacuum) and permanent marker?! I suppose I could have guessed even without this experience. Anyway, both kids were more than usually whiny so we came home, had lunch, put Zeb in his room for some quiet (fingers crossed for a nap!) time while I stayed downstairs helping Abs finish eating her lunch and getting her cleaned up for a nap. When I brought Abby upstairs for her nap, Zeb was not in his room. That's when I noticed that my bedroom door was shut. Yikes! I found him huddled under my bedding with the marker and nail polish again! The marker was (I thought) nowhere near anywhere that he could reach. I was totally and completely wrong!
Here are the pictures of the "evidence" from Tuesday. I'm actually kind of proud of his budding artwork skills, just not where he's choosing to develop them!
So pleased with himself for drawing a "glove" on his hand (His words...not mine!)
An attempt to get the artwork on the closet doors
Master bathroom door = Captain Hook
Master bedroom door = self-portrait of Zeb
Another attempt at the closet = Captain Barnacles from the Octonauts (new favorite show on Disney Junior)
Really blurry shot of the body pillow - I've been told it's another person
A partial body shot of Zeb...intense!
Lovely painted toes (and foot and leg!)
Nice job on the fingers
Bryan's sock drawer (hehe!) **This dresser was given to us by Bryan's parents...and it went through all of their kids without a single incident. We've had it for about a year...DRAT!**
Just before the shower, which may or may not have started out cold...newly discovered stomach art! Still so pleased with himself. After 2 showers with intense scrubbing (WD-40 was rubbed over the marker prior to getting in, then soap was generously applied), he just looked like he'd been covered in dirt instead of black ink. After the third shower everything but the stomach art was gone.
After this fiasco, all markers in the house disappeared. He is now stuck with using chalk and regular crayons for any and all writing and/or art projects. The marker came off of everything except the doors...those will have to be painted. I used a combination of several different techniques...so if you ever need to know...Goof-off works best on the mirrors. WD-40 works best on wood surfaces, skin, and fabrics (the pillow case, sheets, Zeb's shorts...I did have to wash them more than once, but it came out!). Adding bleach to a Mr. Clean magic eraser worked wonders on the walls, but left an outline on the doors (probably because of the very cheap paint on the doors!). We have also been fiasco-free for a month now!! Hooray for learning lessons...but hopefully our next one won't be so intense!
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