Chalk-it

That's Eddie-speak for Chalk. The big fat round sticks of chalk usually used for say....sketching a hop-scotch pattern on concrete except, lately, it's his toy of choice. He likes to write on the chairs, the dining room table, the back of my office chair, his dresser, and most annoying, the walls. He will ask repeatedly for it until I, said supposed parent, give in. Which is usually around 400 times. I just break for some wierd reason right around that number.

There's drywall (sheetrock? what's the difference) in our bedroom that we plan on tearing down, so we let him have free reign over the walls with the 'chalk-it'. He loves to draw 'ciwcowles' and gets giddy if you draw him a snowman, or better yet, a tractor. Yellow, white, pink, green and blue. Any color will do. You get used to it after a while. We won't tear it down until probably a month or so, that way he can do what no toddler before him has actually been given permission to do; DRAW ON THE WALLS.

Funny thing is, these sticks of chalk must be joined up with the lost socks of the world because I'm down to just three or four sticks from about....oh, TWENTY. They can't possibly get swept under a rug. I HAVE found them in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom, and who ever thought that stepping on a piece of chalk could hurt so bad! I really don't know where they could be. Maybe I should check the dryer. That seems to be where half of his toddler sized socks dissappear from on a regular basis.

And don't get me started on crayons. WHY oh WHY must kids break crayons? It must be some small form of OCD in me that exists in a small closet of my brain that bursts out when a crayon is broken. And labels? "take off" he says to me. If I don't peel the crayon label off, he'll do it himself, and I find a little trail of 'violet blue' all around the house. Then, later, as I'm vacuuming, I suck up half sticks of Crayolas. A friend of mine said to me, "don't throw them away, save all the broken pieces of crayons, and then when you get a good lot of them, melt them down in to one big swirly-gig of colors". Thanks Kelly, FANTASTIC idea. No label to peel. Just his style.

I think though, for a while longer, (like, TEN YEARS) we'll keep the crayons in the highest cabinet and stick with the chalk. It wipes off the walls and most everything else SO much easier than crayons, and of course, keeps the OCD at bay. *must look into the obsessive desire to keep crayons intact and labeled.....

It's 5:39am. I've got but a couple hours left of chalk-free time.