I Should Have Seen the Writing on the Wall

We've known for awhile that Cora is a budding artist and, therefore, we have a rule that she is not to be left unsupervised with pens, pencils, crayons and other writing implements. Last month Cora left this masterpiece at the top of our stairs when I wasn't paying attention to her. I wasn't happy, but she's not even two, and it could've been a lot worse.

Five days ago Chris went to a conference and brought home some cool pens, the kind where you push a button and they magically transforms into something bigger. Thinking of them as a "new toy" --and forgetting there real purpose-- we handed them off to Ally and Cora, who happily ran away to play. Later that evening I found myself spending 40 minutes scrubbing scribbles out of the butterfly sheets and the name ALLY off her green gymboree shirt. (As always, Cora's belly was tattooed with pen marks, but she washes clean with little effort.) Last night I finally noticed that Ally had also written everyone's name on their respective bedroom door "so we'd all know where we are supposed to sleep".

Until this episode, Ally was never tempted to write on anything but paper (never even tried to write in a book) and would freak out if she accidentally made even the slightest mark on the table. I've been rather lucky thus far with the natural non-destructiveness of my children. I love Ally's blossoming enthusiasm for writing and spelling, but I hope she's done labeling things in the house with pen. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser shouldn't be my best friend.