On Wednesday while I was sequestered in my bedroom working on the last chapter of my ebook, he colored Bethany from front to back and top to bottom with a permanent marker. The really stinky kind of permanent marker. I’m not sure how we missed the odor, but somebody also marked up the siding on the front of the house and several patches of the deck, which we just stained this summer.
Questions were raised about who should have been watching and what they were doing instead, but we’ll just pretend it never happened – except when we’re out on the deck.
Or maybe when I start thinking about it, I’ll distract myself with the memory of what he did 2 days later – opened the van door into the shiny silver Toyota next to us.
I assessed the damage: no dent, no scratch. Just our white paint on the door of the silver car. It was a nice car, but I did spot several small scratches and chips farther down the side, worse than what we had just done. I wetted my finger and rubbed. The white paint didn’t go away, but I was hopeful that it would buff off.
Nonetheless, that note was much less fun to write than the one I sent to my bank the day before.
My 3yo opened the door of my van onto your driver door, leaving a bit of white paint just below the handle.
If you are concerned, please call me at 830-***-****. Or you can look for me inside the Goodwill. I’m the guilty looking woman with a little girl and a little boy.
So Sorry,
Kim
A few minutes later, a woman rushed down the aisle next to me, sounding angry and distraught: “Kim! Kim!“ My stomach sank. Then an employee who seemed to know her spoke in a soothing voice: “What is it, Kathy?”
“I’m lost again!” Kathy replied. I breathed a sigh of relief and resumed looking guilty, but nobody came looking for this Kim, and the car was gone when we left the Goodwill.
No calls yet. So far, so good. How long would you wait before you breath a real sigh of relief?
This summer when I was picking up 3 of my kids from gymnastics I left my 10 yr old and baby in the car while I ran inside to get the kids. When I came out a guilty looking man explained that he just rear-ended me busting out my tail light. I was in a hurry, as usual, but wrote down his name, phone number, and insurance info on a receipt. This was over 3 months ago. I still haven’t called and probably won’t. The light’s been fixed for a couple of months, now. Take heart!
Please tell us you took pictures of Bethany all “decorated!?!”
I’m getting scared just reading..luckily our Boy has still got a way to go before he’s on his feet.Tie him to a table leg?Lol.
You DID take a picture right…of Bethany not the car. LOL Although I personally never take pictures of markered up children or household objects because then it’s proof that it happened and I like to forget.
On the other hand I did take a pic of the time one of the toddlers found the paint and made bright green handprints all over the front of the dryer. Thankfully it was washable paint, but I didn’t wash the prints off…they were too cute!
(((HUGS))) on the van door/Toyota incident. I’d wait about a month, then forget it.
I’ve had to write two of those notes in my time. ugh. No one ever called, though…
And I’ve had one episode where I’ve been on the receiving end…no note, just the damage, and not a little white paint, either. I think the note goes a long way to making the person feel that all is right with the world…
The marker is why I’ve never written much until now, when my youngest is 12!
I’m not sure if I would call – unless it was to thank the leaver of their note for their honesty! I’ve had so many people ding my door (actually denting it) and just drive away – it would be such a refreshing change to even have someone apologize! Good for you – I wish more people thought like you do!
Moths, rust and kids corrupt!
It’s a good thing that this world isn’t where we have our greatest treasure; events like these would be very depressing if it were!
Hilary,
Thank you. At this point, I’m nearly ready to breathe a sigh of relief. I’ve learned something, though. If I’m ever on the receiving end of a note like mine and I decide it’s not worth worrying about, I’ll definitely call just to let the writer know that they’re off the hook!
Not sure if there is a natural home remedy, but Magic Erasers work wonders on getting marker off things it shouldn’t be on. NOT recommended for skin thought. I too hope for pictures of Bethany, if nothing else they’d make great fodder at your daughter-in-law’s baby shower!!!!!
Hand sanitizer removes sharpie, my poor kitchen counters! I have “that boy” too.
Jennifer,
I wish I had taken pictures of Bethany, but I was a little humor-impaired at the time. I did growl at one of the children to take a picture and put her in the tub, but I have no idea how the picture turned out.
What, no pictures of Bethany?
Oh, I guess you answered that.
I hadn’t read the comments yet.
all I can think right now is imagine how differant your life would be if you had 8 boys and 1 girl…….LOL
LOL! My daughter got into tons of mischief when she was that age. I can’t tell you how many times she wrote on inappropriate surfaces, including scratching her name into our nice dining room table twice, on two separate occaisons!
By the way, a friend discovered after her son had a sleepover and the boys drew a mustache on the first kid that fell alseep with a permanent marker that if you put windex on a cotton ball and rub it on the ink, it comes off skin pretty easily.