Timothy loves to draw. He started out drawing with crayons and coloring books. But, he quickly lost interest in crayons when he discovered markers. His favorites ones were the really bright ones. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that his favorite markers were not washable. I quickly replaced them with the washable kind. Which is a good thing, because Timothy has decided that his favorite place to draw is on his body. When I remind him that we only draw on paper, he says “I draw paper” and immediately goes back to his body art instead.

Recently, I had to bring Timothy to my office for a few hours. I decided to keep him busy by setting him up with plenty of paper and markers. This kept him occupied for quite a long time and I was surprised at how much I was able to get accomplished. When it was time to leave I discovered why he had been so well behaved – he had been drawing on my office walls! Now I have a permanent reminder of my precious two year old in my office.

Today, Timothy decided to take his artistic pursuits to a new level. He found two Sharpie pens in a desk drawer. In a matter of seconds, he had drawn all over his sisters’ computer that was sitting on the desk. So far we have been able to get the Sharpie off the computer screen (except for a few small marks on the edge of the screen). But, we haven’t been able to get any of the Sharpie off the computer keyboard. My teenage girls are very unhappy about Timothy’s latest coloring adventure so I am now searching the Internet for ideas about how to get rid of Sharpie. In the meantime I am scouring the house for all hidden markers, pens and other writing instruments. This experience has reminded me that leaving a two year old unattended, even for a matter of seconds in a room that you “think” is toddler-proofed, can be a very expensive mistake to make.