Beware of the Crayon Wielding Toddler
This toddler of mine, this ever-so-clever girl, loves to play with her crayons. How can a mother refuse when those big, blue eyes look into your own and say, “Color?”
At first, giving Babycakes crayons was pure genius! She would now sit still in restaurants as long as she could have some crayons and paper. While the grown-ups enjoyed their dinner, little baby would doodle and nibble. Yes, nibble. Soon her crayons looked like they belonged to a T-Rex. Since we used them so often when we were out to dinner, the crayons found a semi-permanent home in my diaper bag. That is, until Babycakes found them. Eight crayons — how much damage can a rainbow of colors cause?
Have you ever tried to reason with a 14 month old?
The rules of coloring — we only color on paper. Foolishly, I allowed her to color (on paper) while standing at the coffee table. Before long, there was blue crayon doodled on the carpeted stairs. Cue the Super Spot Shot. The next day, there was black crayon doodled on an old lap-top computer.
“Babycakes, we ONLY color on paper.”
“Pay-Per. Cull-er.”
“That’s right!”
I let her try again. And she colored in her book. She looked at me with those blue eyes and said, “Pay-per?” I mean, yes it’s paper, but we don’t color in books!!
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This brings me to this past weekend. Our box of crayons made the voyage to the beach. Recently, my crayon wielding toddler had been making much better choices and coloring only in her notebook… until Daddy.
A Daddy is a great thing & Coach is a magnificent father. It’s just that he doesn’t watch her as closely as I do which is how the votive at Aunt Judy’s condo got broken. (Sorry — we’ll totally buy you a new one!) This is also how I caught her coloring on her favorite board book with black crayon while sitting with her Daddy.
“Hon, please don’t let her color on her book.”
“But she likes to color on her book.”
Clearly, he needed to be reminded of the rules, too.
On Sunday, while traveling back home we were forced to stop at a Burger King in the middle of nowhere South Carolina. Ever get off an interstate exit and wonder what planet you just landed on?
While I ordered our lunch, Coach & Babycakes played in the booth. It took a long time for our order — I suppose they were plucking the chickens for our grilled combos? In that time, the crayons — now just six left — made their appearance. By the time I sat down, Babycakes had purple crayon on her teeth. Great. So she washed it down with some apple juice.
Halfway through the meal, I noticed something else…
”Did she do this?”
“Yes.”
She colored on the window.
They said she could have it her way.
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November 24th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Braden did this kind of thing. I still find crayon on my walls occasionally. He’s older now so it’s not too often b/c it’s not as sweet at 3 as it is at 14 months.