There Is An Artist In All of Us

First off, I should mention that Aubrey and Rigdon are roommates due to the fact there was no other place to put him when he joined our family.  Yesterday I put Rigdon down for a nap in their room, but apparently he had other plans in mind.  Fifteen minutes after putting him in his bed, I hear Aubrey yell, "Nooooo!  Rigdon!" 

This can't be good, what has Rigdon done now?

I walk in and see him doing this:  Yep, drawing on Aubrey's unicorn mural.  The chalk I can handle, but see those black scribbles?  Yeah, that's PERMANENT marker.

"Rigdon, no, no...don't draw on the walls,"  I say. He just looks at me and smiles.  Hmmm, apparently it going take something else to make this kid feel any sense of wrongdoing. 

I am sure he is probably thinking, "But mom, someone already has drawn on the wall, so that means I can too!  Besides, I'm just making it look better.  See all the pretty colors I'm using?" 

"Say sorry to Aubrey" I added.

He doesn't look very repentant to me.

By this time I was more amused than angry. It was quite apparent that he was very proud of what he was doing.  Besides, this was, by no means, his first offense.  We've got scribbles all over the couches and other walls in the house too.  I've tried to confiscate all pencils, pens, and markers to high-up places where I hope he cannot get to.  Guess I forgot about the chalk in Aubrey's room.

In fact his response was more like: Come join me!

I have lots of chalk to share, see?

 Since the damage had already been done, Aubrey joined in too.  Chalk washes off pretty easily.  The permanent marker, well, I suppose is a lost cause.

I guess apples don't fall far from the tree after all. I remember making "beautiful art," (scribbles on paper) when I was about five years old and actually glooing my artwork all over our living room walls. When I had finished, I went to gather up my family so that they could see my "gallery." Their response was not quite what I expected - yes, they were surprised but not in a good way. My mom got after me pretty good and then my parents spent the rest of the night pulling off paper and scraping glue off the walls. I remember feeling embarassed and also sad that no one "complimented" me on my artwork.

However, after years of practice, people now pay me to "scribble" on their walls:

So who am I to stifle the budding talent of my two-year old?  Who knows, maybe one day he or any of my other kids may far surpass me in the field of art.