The Toddler and The Paint Roller

I cannot make this stuff up.

You know all the funny pictures you see on the web of the toddlers and their trails of destruction as massive as a tornado?  The Desitin covered room?  The television covered in paint?  The child covered in peanut butter?  Ring any bells?  Add this one right there with them.

I had to leave to go to a meeting at school while the toddler was taking a nap.  Daddy and the oldest were both home, so how much trouble could a sleeping toddler really get in to?  When she woke up she decided to play in her room for a little while.  Then somehow stealthily snuck over to the laundry room and found the paint roller I had used to paint her tv cabinet.  I had sealed in in a bag in case I needed to use it for touch ups.  My mistake.

When I walk in the door she comes running down the hall shouting: "TA DA!!"

I'm sure I resembled one of those cartoon characters with their eyeballs popping out of their sockets.

My first thought was that she got into big sister's lipstick.  Second thought, marker.  Never would I have imagined paint.

It was everywhere.  Her hands, feet, nightgown, face and hair.  It was on her newly installed floor (I didn't stop to take a picture of that-I started cleaning immediately after I gave her a bath) and her tv.  Once I thought I had cleaned it all up, I found the laundry room had been decorated as well.

Now, before anyone says "why wasn't someone watching her?" let me assure you she wasn't alone.  She's three and a half and very independent.  All children need to play and have adventures without a microscope on them every second of every day.  Children have to learn and grow on their own as much as they do with other people.  They need to feel a sense of freedom.  Not too much, but just enough.  No, I am not a free reign mom.  Far from it.  More of a helicopter parent actually.  It's the micro seconds they get and do some damage.  To her, this was hilarious because pink is her favorite color.  I don't have enough pink in her closet for her to wear it everyday, so in her little mind this was the solution.

Helicopter in full mode, I will be watching more closely for those micro seconds.  Before my entire house is redecorated in nail polish and pink paint.

☮ & ❤
~A~

Finger Nail Polish, The Skunk and the Toddler

My kids have been on Spring Break for the past 10 days.  10.  Days.

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I love to spend time with them, but this "break" has been anything but.  We've been spring cleaning, on top of transitioning the toddler from crib (in our room) to toddler bed in her "big girl room".  This started on Thursday, prior to them getting out of school and preschool on Friday.

I ripped out her carpet, which was stained and stunk.  To me anyway.  See in the past few months, my little three year old has decided she wants to be a baker.  How do I know this?  Oh from the gallon of cooking oil she managed to swipe from under a counter (she put it on her big wheel that she just got for her birthday and "drove" it down the hall to her room-at least that's the theory I'm sticking to), and then empty it's contents in the middle of her bedroom floor.

The next week, I left big sister in charge for about an hour while brother was at ball practice.  I came home to find that she snuck past sissy and got a container of sugar and dumped it in the floor.  Mind you the carpet still felt greasy from the oil.  Fortunately we stopped her from snatching the carton of eggs off the counter.

I'm pretty sure there was one other thing that got dumped, but I gave up counting.
And of course the gift of choice at Christmas was play baking supplies from everyone.  It's a little funny to look back on, but I swear....

Anyway I ripped out her carpet and laid vinyl flooring that looks like wood.  I did the same in her siblings rooms last year.  Once it was all said and done it looked fantastic.  Yes, I'm tooting my own horn.  I did it ALL BY MYSELF and I'm proud of my work.  My back hated me for three days.

Tonight my oldest said she would lay with the toddler to go to sleep.  You see, she's a sneaky little devil and must be watched to go to sleep.  At some point my oldest decided to leave her alone.  I walk down the hall to check on them and smell finger nail polish.  Now my first thought is the oldest (I have three-a preteen drama queen, a wrestling/gaming son, and the mini diva toddler), is painting her nails and it's past bedtime.

Oh, but no.  The toddler found the finger nail polish and decided to PAINT HER NEW ROOM.  Table.  Chair.  FLOOR.

Can you imagine the horror and steam escaping my ears?

After trying to clean it up, the room stunk again.  I hate to smell polish anyway, and worse I didn't want her to have to sleep with the smell.  So I opened the window to air it out.  I walked off to clean myself up and went back to check again, only to smell the SKUNK that had let loose outside.

Finger nail polish.  Polish remover.  And skunk.

Oh.  My.  Gravy.

So I decided to sit down and take a breather and in the midst of things, I thought this was a little funny and wanted to share with you all.  We all have those parenting moments where we don't know if we're coming or going.  My motto is to laugh to keep from crying.  It happens.  It's real.  It's raw.  Life isn't all those picture perfect images we had in our heads.

And you know what?  Any other way would be boring.  While I wanted to scream and cry because the perfect floor now had bright pink nail polish on it, I chose to write about it and make it a concrete memory.  I'm sure I'll look back on these "scenes" one day and laugh.  One day.  Just not today.

Now, mama needs a nap.

☮ & 💗

~A~

Keeping it Real in 2015

Happy New Year!
New year=new blog.

This is one I've wanted to start for some time now but wasn't really sure how to get it going.  I love reading other "mom" blogs and craft blogs, and I love the humor in them.  Sometimes when I read a craft blog that has too much "mom fun" then the craft just gets lost along the way.  Or, I'm in a hurry for some good instructions and want to skip over the chit chat for the time being.  So, I've decided to do a separate blog from my craft one.

That being said, my husband likes to tell me I ooze with sarcasm.  I think the older I get, the easier it is to be sarcastic.  Maybe it's a survival technique or stress device.  Who knows.  But, I'm here to share it with you.

I consider myself a more traditional mom, or even hippie.  My style itself could be classified not just country, but hippie or shabby.  I love vintage.  The real deal.  The traditional, classic, take me back to my childhood feel. Maybe I'm just getting old.

So, this blog may be very scatter-brained, just as my own brain is.  But I hope you find some humor in it.  My honest moments.  Sarcastic.  Tough mama.  Pushover mama.  Frustrations.  Anything in between.

I hope you will enjoy following along and please feel free to chime in with comments, I love them.  All I ask is that everyone stay respectful.  This is a judgment free zone.  We're moms.  We're not perfect.

XOXO,
Dixie