The Incident of Which We May Now Speak

Not so long ago an incident went down, or rather, when up in our house that I am just now feeling comfortable enough to write about. One morning I walked into the boys’ room to see this on the wall.

This is not crayon. Nope. Sharpies.

My initial reaction was total dismay. Cal, Sharpies in hand, might as well as have punched me in my feelings and laughed. I know that’s not a thing, but still. You know what I mean. I felt personally injured. That kid knows that drawing on anything other than paper or the window (but only with window markers) is wrong. He had just gotten in trouble a few days prior for using crayons on his dresser. Now this.  I don’t remember exactly what I first said, but it was probably just whining and moaning as I shook with anger.  Brian had to calm me down as we talked about discipline measures. To me at that moment, nothing except maybe water-boarding would be too extreme.  

I suppose what we settled on was more level-headed. We had to take everything into consideration: The day before he was praised highly for how well he was coloring in the lines. In fact, he colored twelve space shuttles, skillfully staying in the lines for the most part. 

Cal's are the 12 monochromatic ones. the others are Clark's.

On the wall, he had spent plenty of time coloring in each of the truck wheels on the wall. He clearly had been at this for a long time. How had we not heard them? He (and maybe Clark) had been at this a long time. They marked the lampshade, the radio, the wardrobe/dresser, the shelf, the sheets, the outside of the bed, the inside of the bed, the top rails of the bed, the middle rails of the bed, Cal’s pajamas, and Cal’s body.  

How could we have let them both be awake for so long and not noticed they were up? Also: it’s not their fault that someone left Sharpies in their reach, particularly when they were bored and Cal was trapped on his bunk. I still have no idea when or where I left Sharpies in their reach. It’s still a mystery. Whenever we asked them, they said a different spot, so we gave up on sleuthing it out. Anyway, we ended up giving them several stern talkings-to and if anything else like this happens we will not be so passive about it. Because I'm perfectly rational, I was mad at the Sharpies themselves and let them sit with out the lids on for a few days, drying up in a prolonged, painful death. 

Now. Any ideas for how to get this stuff off the wall? The bed? The shelves? I’ve had some luck with hand sanitizer on the wall, and Colgate toothpaste worked some on the dresser. Sunblock got it off his neck, legs, and foot. Stain stick didn’t take it off the sheets. I haven’t even tried the lampshade, but I’m guessing that’s finished. 

Any other ideas? As soon as we get it cleaned off the best we can, we will paint over it. I guess. I kind of just feel like leaving it up. Maybe I should let them draw on that wall all they want? The other day they were pretending the scribble-wall was their map while they flew their bed like a space shuttle. Maybe leaving it would promote creative play. As if the little pretenders need creative play promoted.