I was rushing this afternoon. That seems to be one of my personality traits.
Jordan and I had just finished his school assignment to make a diorama (a shoebox-crafted art project displaying how our family celebrates Christmas). We had used a red permanent marker to color Santa coming down the chimney and getting stuck. Jordan found it humorous to draw a fire in the fireplace.
Leaving our supplies on the table I glanced at the clock and began my rushing routine again, this time to make lunch. I heard Madelynn shut the bathroom door but didn’t pry knowing my three-year old would most likely ask for “her privacy.”
After a good five minutes I had a few motherly suspicions…enough to make me stop rushing and check on my daughter.
I stood in the bathroom doorway first aghast, then stunned, wondering if a child could be any more creative. Maddi was decorating the toilet seat with the red permanent marker. Little people adorned the entire circular shape.
My voice was calm, though my expression stumped as I began speaking in third person, a true sign that I was about to discipline, “Madelynn…do you remember what Mommy has taught you about markers? We only draw on—“
“Paper.” She finished for me with a proud grin.
Staring I clarified, “Permanent marker does not come off of things.”
This fact didn’t seem to impress my little Picasso.
“Mom…this is Jordan and Me and my baby. This one is my daddy and that one is grandma and that one is papa…” continuing to point, Madelynn said, “Oh…and that one there is YOU!”
Lovely. Even I had made it onto the reinvented canvas!
Visions of what I could now explain to guests ran through my mind. The bathroom is around the corner…beware of my portrait on the toilet seat. Don’t worry though—it doesn’t come off.
One thing I know, it caught my attention. It cured my rushing. It caused me to stop. (And secretly smile in a bewildered this-is-my-life sort of way.)
