Weekly Winners… That’s The Point (Of A Sharpie)

While Gage and Carter have never been interested in channeling their inner Picasso, Ryerson loves to color. I still have (had) coloring books from when Gage and Carter were young, and most pages are (were) free from crayons, markers, or paint. In the last few months I’ve found myself scouring the shelves for cheap coloring books (I can’t bring myself to pay $10 for a coloring book… PUHLEASE) to make up for the ones he’s filled with his artistic genius. Because of his perfectionism, he can color better than most kids his age… he doesn’t settle for anything less than perfection, and every brushstroke (or crayon, as the case may be) is meticulously carried out. I’ve watched him sit for hours in the living room while watching tv and filling his coloring books, and occasionally he’ll ask my opinion.

“Mommy, are dinosaurs blue?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure dinosaurs didn’t wear wear leg warmers or play baseball, either, so you go ahead color ‘em any color you want.”

Lately he’s discovered he doesn’t need a coloring book or a blank piece of paper… he can draw on his face. Almost every night for the past two weeks Mark and I have had to give him a bath, not to scrub him clean of dirt and sand, but of the Crayola Markers I bought him last month in a moment of stupidity weakness. I finally hid them the other day, thinking that if he couldn’t find them, that was one less night Mark and I had to deal with dragging him into the bathroom kicking and screaming and telling us, “I LIKE BEING DIRTY!”, because unfortunately, his analness only applies to the house and coloring books… he would rather chew off his own arm than take a bath. So I thought it was a stroke of genius on my part when I hid the markers in the linen closet (I’m not known for my ability to plan ahead)… I shouldn’t have bothered. In fact, I wish I hadn’t.

He managed to find a Sharpie… it’s just now starting to fade.

For more Weekly Winners, visit Sarcastic Mom.