There have been a couple of occasions in the past week or so that my almost three year old daughter Z hasn't wanted to take a nap. I've told her that if she plays quietly in her room she doesn't need to sleep. But she should stay put until nap time is over.
It worked well, for a short while. Then she started asking that her door be left open. Makes sense, seeing as we've taken her Pull-Ups away during afternoon nap; she needs access to the potty.
So today was a "quiet play" day. But things were particularly quiet toward the end. Suspiciously quiet. Then Z shows up at the top of the stairs with two crayons in her fist.
"What were you doing upstairs?"
"Drawing."
"What were you drawing on, paper? Is there paper in your room?"
"No. I was drawing on the wall."
I race upstairs and see scribbles all over the hallway wall.
"Oh, no! We don't draw on walls. We only draw on paper. Is this the only place you drew
pictures?"
"No. There's more in my room."
She shows me the scribbles on her wall, her floor and her sheets and apologizes, looking genuinely remorseful. I grab us each a damp washcloth and we get to work cleaning up the mess.
It turns out to be a cinch. Because those crayons? Tub crayons. They're made of soap! Which teaches us parents a valuable lesson. Like maybe we shouldn't encourage behavior in the bath that isn't acceptable out of the tub.
