Tuesday, May 23, 2006

How can something this sweet...

be so destructive?

Our little artist strikes again! She KNOWS she's not supposed to color on anything except paper...trust me, she KNOWS!!! But knowing doesn't stop her. It might even encourage her. She created her latest masterpiece with a regular blue ball point pen. She hit EVERY seat and every cushion plus the armrests on our leather couch and loveseat, the entertainment center, the kithcen cabinets, the dishwasher, the walls in the hall, her bedroom door and trim. I suppose I should be proud. After all, only a true artist would be so free and unihibited.

I thought I was relatively calm, considering the extent of the damage. I reminded her that we only draw on paper and immediately put her in time out. Dh was pretty upset with her. He actually sat on the arm of the couch and cried when he saw what his sweet angel had done. He's usually not here when the kids do something like this, so I was glad to not have to be the only mean parent this time. But honestly now, what's a parent to do? It's only walls and furniture, right? And she's our little girl...what's REALLY more important?

I guess that I've come to the conclusion that scribbled walls and furniture can be a sign of happiness. They're a constant reminder of what matters most in life. Step into our home and it's obvious that kids live here. So maybe we don't have nice furniture or an immaculate house, but we can choose to enjoy our kids while they're young and embrace their creativity. The artwork is just a sign of a carefree, happy child...and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world!
















Here's a really bad picture of some of the "artwork" - please excuse the glare from my flash. I think I'm going to order some of this and see how it works. I'm sure I'll need more than one! We've used this cleaner before, which wasn't too impressive, but this protection cream is amazing!

2 comments:

susie said...

You take amazing photos...I want a lesson! I am very impressed that you remained calm...what a great mom. Thanks for the perspective lesson!

Anonymous said...

awww Heather.. I can sympathise. Lochie went through this too. Unfortunatley..we rent. There is no room for philosophy here! The landlord is quiet intense and wants his rather nice new home to be exactly that when we move out!

Sadly.. lochie drew all over the brand new kitchen - the cupboards, the bench, the floor tiles, the stainless steel oven and ceran cooktop, the dishwasher etc. *sigh*
So many different surfaces! And of course he used perm. marker. We got it all off.. with a faint mark on the oven (which hopefully the owener wont spot) and a cleaner mark on the dishwasher (which is ours! thankfully).. He also drew on himself, the walls, door, carpet and strip (from the tile to the carpet) - the strip needs replacing but i got the rest off. Then there was the make up he painted on the freshly shampooed carpet... *sigh*...

Good luck!