By Heather Shotkoski 
Call me crazy, but I recently painted my kitchen cabinets white despite having two little mess-makers living in my house. Choosing aesthetics over practicality maybe wasn’t one of my best decisions…
A few days ago, my preschooler got hold of a red PERMANENT marker. Red happens to be his absolute favorite color in the entire world.
You know where this is heading, right?
In a span of just a few minutes, my little artist was able to leave his mark on almost every surface of the kitchen — including a couple places on my fresh, white cabinets. Apparently he isn’t a fan of my white and blue color scheme, so he took it upon himself to add in some red.
How did he get hold of the marker? And how did he manage to hit so many spots in the kitchen unnoticed? These are the very questions I asked my husband, who happened to be sitting mere feet away in the living room when the desecration of the kitchen occurred.
(His answer: “I don’t know.” So helpful.)
While my immediate reaction to finding the kitchen all marked up was anger, it faded pretty quickly. After all, I can paint over the spots on my cabinets. It’s an simple fix, really. And the marks on my oven and fridge actually wiped away fairly easily.
As for the ones that can’t be wiped away or painted over, I’ve decided those will be beautiful reminders of the creative, precocious child I have. Don’t get me wrong; he did face some consequences for his actions. However, those marks show how blessed I truly am. My son is bright, independent, stubborn, totally goofy, frustrating, loving, and wild all at once. He’s my firstborn and the answer to many prayers.
I’m so thankful for my little marker happy child, and I wouldn’t change him for the world.
But I am making sure those markers stay hidden better from now on!
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