Sidewalk Chalk

Since having kids, I've considered sidewalk chalk a fun, cheap, easy way to entertain my children during the summer. And best of all, you aren't ever really to young or too old to enjoy it!

With this as my view of sidewalk chalk I, of course, bought a huge box of it at the beginning of the summer. Since it is such a great activity, last summer we went through multiple boxes of it. So, I stocked up. The problem is, I no longer have a fenced in back yard. If my kids are going to go outside, I have to go with them. And we live in humidity! Yuck! If you have never lived in humidity, be grateful. It's awful. But I digress...

Earlier this week Z discovered the huge box of chalk. And why wouldn't he? It was stashed high on a shelf in a box and forgot about it. I should have see this coming.

Since he had sidewalk chalk and no sidewalk, he just made due.

Have I ever mentioned we only have one room in our house with carpet? Well, we do. And its the really short kind of carpet, so sidewalk chalk draws on it nicely. Just ask Z and W.

When I entered the play room to find drawings all over the floor and treadmill, I was not a happy mama. What was I to do? Have Z clean it up, of course!

Now, if you know Z, you know that he is a rambunctious little boy with lots of energy and not much fear. Except when it comes to lawn mowers and vacuums! Yep! Even at age 3, he screams and cries every time the vacuum goes on and he is in the room. Maybe he just didn't see it in use enough during the first few years of his life. Oops!

Back to the story.

I pull out the vacuum and grab Z. He is upset before the cleaning even begins. But I am not going to let him slide. I've done that too many times lately, and he needs to learn there are consequences to his actions.

I plug it in.

Put Z's hand on the vacuum, holding it in place.

Turn vacuum on.

The frightful humming is accompanied by screams of horror.

I can still see it now: Z in his red shirt, arm outstretched as far as it can go, holding the vacuum handle, me trying not to make too big of movements so he can hang on, his little arm moving back and forth causing more of a hindrance than help. But he sticks to it. He doesn't even fight me.

Push, pull, push, scream, pull, push, pull, scream!

We vacuum the part of the room that has no toys covering the floor and the chalk in this manner.

It only takes a few minutes, but I'm sure it seemed like hours to my boy.

He is exhausted from fear.

My floor is basically clean.

Done!

Bed time!

He has learned his lesson, right?!?

Wrong.

Next day, chalk all over my wood floors.

We try the vacuum again, but this time it doesn't do much good.

Get the spray mop.

I have Z help at first, but he thinks it is way too much fun to push the spray button.

I just finish by myself.

Later that day, I have spray mop cleaner all over my floor.

Glad he learned a lesson!

I'm sure he will never again draw with chalk inside the house. At least until he finds and climbs to the chalk's current hiding place. Let's hope it lasts at least a week or two. Longer if I'm really lucky!

When I got discouraged, I just reminded myself: At least it wasn't marker.