Chocolate Ink

Our apartment walls are in bad shape. Bad, bad shape.

I don't know what it is about toddlers, but it seems their

dirty little hands naturally gravitate to clean walls.

Our toddler is no exception.

Last night I caught Noah using chocolate ink

to stamp his hand print on the wall. Yes, CHOCOLATE.

Josh and I were in the kitchen talking, and all of the sudden

my Mom-Alarm went off... Noah was up to something.

Noah was darting back and forth from his

little table in the living room to a nearby wall,

covering it with little chocolate hand prints.

His plate was covered in melted chocolate Popsicle, so

Noah thought he'd use it to paint the walls Curious George style.

I think I literally gasped out loud when I saw what Noah

had done. I called Josh into the living room and we both stood

there looking at each other trying to hold back our laughter.

More and more often, we find ourselves faced with situations that,

while hilarious and/or painfully cute, require a firm disciplinary response

so that Noah understands his behavior is not to be repeated.

As hard as it is, we just can't let Noah catch even a hint

of a smile, otherwise, he thinks it's all fun and games.

Toddlers! They're something else, aren't they?