Interior Design

Zeal emerged from nap time into the back yard where I was working, the picture of innocence and sweetness. "Me help you with your work, Mommy?" he asked, beaming at me. It wasn't until he reached for the shovel and I noticed that his hands were blue, and his arms were blue, and he had blue smudged on his face, that I realized we were in serious trouble.

I asked him where the marker was that he'd drawn on his hands with, and as he led me back to his room to give it to me, I saw blue out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I beheld this... I sucked in a breath and started counting to 10. Convinced that probably wasn't enough, I counted to 50. Only then was I confident I could ask Zeal what on earth was going through his mind, without my head spinning 'round at the same time.

Zeal calmly explained to me that he was "jus' decorating, Mommy." Duh. Obviously. Apparantly my decor style was far too sparse for him. And believe me, decorate he did. Not only the toilet lid, but also the toilet seat. And the toilet paper. And the door, wall, floor, baseboard heater, faucet, towel, vanity light bulbs, doorknob... Pretty much, you name it, it was blue. As was the wall outside the bathroom, and Zeal's door.

Oh, and did I mention, most of Zeal was also blue? Yups, his arms up to his elbows, his legs up to his knees, and somehow he even managed to color his butt. Yes, his butt.

As Zeal sat in timeout, and I scrubbed the blue off the vanity, I said a little prayer thanking God for washable markers... And as soon as Zeal was out of earshot I giggled a bit at my little interior designer...