Caught In The Act!

Sometimes I put Elias in his room to play so that I can shower. We have a baby gate that goes across his doorway so that he stays in the “safe zone.” No cats, no breakables or chokeables…you get the picture. Normally he just plays in there. I hear him over the monitor talking to himself or playing with blocks. Occasionally he gets mischievous and unpacks a dresser drawer or two…but that is the extent of it.

My apologies for the horrible picture...When I went back to photograph his markings, I didn't want Elias to feel I was encouraging drawing on the doors...so I tried to do it fast. This is just some of the door markings. It was on the walls and the gate as well.

This morning I rounded the corner and found him with his back to me….coloring on his door. My first reaction…I admit…was to think how cute it was…so I ran to get my phone to snap a picture to text to Nathan. I snuck up on the little guy, and took a picture. The click startled him. Elias turned around with wide eyes, and immediately dropped the crayon. Then he adopted his best innocent face, pointed to the black crayon markings, and said, “uh-oh.” When I didn’t respond he said, “uh-oh” three or four more times for good measure. My little stinker totally knew it was naughty!

I undid the gate, took the crayons, and put them back in the closet while explaining to Elias that “we draw on paper…not on the door” when I saw that he had also drawn on the wall next to the closet. Oh dear….

When I told Nathan about the incident, his biggest concern was that Elias had chosen to draw with black and orange. Green was discarded on the floor and yellow was still put away in the closet. I guess I’ll have to spend some time baby proofing the closet now that he can open the door!