Momology 101

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
~Phyllis Diller

My son was maybe one and a half when he got into the diaper cream.

He'd been too quiet (we all know that means trouble) so I was searching for him. Well, I found him alright. In front of the t.v. with what had been a brand new tube of diaper cream. The now empty tube was clutched in one hand and the other hand was smearing thick white cream on the television screen just as fast a his little chubby hand could go. I think he knew his "art" time was limited.

I should mention here that he was standing in it as well. He must have started out finger painting the cream on our brand new dark blue carpet and moved up to the t.v. at some point. He'd done a good job with it. Not only was it on the brand new carpet, it was all over the t.v. screen and it looked like he had taken great care to make sure it got into all of the little speaker holes on the side of the television. It was also in his hair, on his face, squished between his toes and his diaper was hanging on by a string.

I hate to admit it, but my first reaction was anger. I was so mad I could have spit nails. Our brand new carpet was a mess and I was sure the t.v. was ruined. But when he turned around and I got a good look at him, all my anger just faded away. He was so proud of his "art". And honestly, his looks saved him. (You didn't know cuteness was a defense mechanism did you?) His hair was spiked straight up in front with big globs of white goo stuck in here and there. It was his first experience with finger painting. Needless to say he loved it.

It took us a good hour to clean it all up. To this day you can still see a bit of white in some of the little speaker holes on the television. The image of his angelic, smiling face covered in thick, white goop will be with me the rest of my life. It's the little moments that make lifetime memories.

And yes, for those of you wondering, my son still loves to finger paint. :)