My budding artist

I came out of the shower this morning to find this lovely mural work done in my hallway. My immediate response was to groan in frustration at yet another problem in the house for which I seem to have no time to effectively deal with these days. Davis came running in my direction with a huge smile on his face and was quite proud of what he had colored. "Look mommy, look what I did!" I couldn't help but smile on the inside at his happiness and total lack of understanding that he'd done something wrong. The conversation that followed went like this.

Me: Davis, what is the rule in our house? We only color on what?

Davis: Paper.

Me: And is this paper?

Davis: No, it's a wall!

Me: So, should you color on the wall if it's not paper?

Davis: Yes!

These are the funny, and difficult, conversations we're starting to have with Davis. Just the other day he'd done something he wasn't supposed to (can't even remember what now) and I sternly told him it was a no-no. He replied, no mommy, it's a yes-yes! (Again, big smile with adorable dimples showing). I looked across the room at Barron who could hardly contain the laughter on his face any better than I could, all while trying to keep a straight face for Davis.

Discipline with an almost three year old has proven to be more difficult the past six weeks with Jack around. It's harder to stay consistent and offer the same structure we had before. Davis is a good kid- sweet, happy and a bit stubborn. He has certainly learned to work the system in our house. I am aware that he's much more behaved when he's getting healthy attention and structure. I actually felt like a "mom of two who has it all together" on our trip to Trader Joe's today. Jack was in the Baby Bjorn (after learning that keeping him in the car seat/stroller is NOT effective) and Davis was pushing around the shopping cart made for kids just his size. He followed directions, was a great helper and had a really fun time. It was a great outing. At least we know what to do even if we can't always quite make it happen. I suppose that's just part of being parents.

I haven't yet washed the crayon off the wall. Mostly, I haven't had the time or the free hand today to do so (baby sleeping on me as I type this). But also in a small way, because it still sort of makes me smile, thinking of his reaction. And knowing, from my parents, I myself did something like this at his age (but on a much larger scale). Life in full circle. It brought this to mind for me (by artist Brian Andreas):




At least it's just crayon on the wall this time! Last week it was painting with something else (that's stinky) all over his bedroom. Now, that's another story.