Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I can't stop it!

Ryker LOVES to color. He's always saying "color paper?" So I strap him in his high chair with a piece of paper and a pen/crayons/pencil, and let him have at it. However, we have too many pens/crayons/pencils in the house, and he always seems to find them. I try so hard to keep them hidden, but the girls use them throughout the day, and don't always put them away. If he finds one, he's some how magnetically attracted to the walls, floors, or furniture, and starts his artwork! Aaahhh! I've caught him SO many times, and I always yank it out of his hand, and tell him NO, NO, NO, NO! Don't color the walls, only color paper! So when he sees his markings on the wall, he'll point at it, and say "no, no, no". I think he gets it, but he keeps doing it! My magic erasers have been wonderful, but there are some spots that just won't come out, such as the black sharpie on my bathroom wall, (see last picture), and the pen on the microfiber couch and chairs. I'm planning on renting a rug doctor for the furniture, but I think I'll just have to re-paint the bathroom. I hope I have some spare paint!

So what tips do you have for getting pen out of microfiber?? And how do you keep your kids from coloring all over the house? I use pens all day long, and can't keep him away from them.

I present to you, Rykers artwork:
















12 comments:

Jessica said...

I wish I had suggestions. You have just presented one of my fears of the future. I will have to quench my fear or it will most certainly happen.

Liz said...

Oh my gosh, he truly has colored on everything! Luckily Alex never went through this stage, knock on wood. I think it's because he doesn't have older siblings, maybe we will struggle with future children. I have a friend across the street and all three of her children do this, and she doesn't even try to clean it up. It sort of drives me crazy, but she thinks they will just do it again, so why clean it up. I think it encourages them and teaches disrespect if you don't teach them that it isn't appropriate to do this. So it is good that he knows that it's wrong. Anyways, I have used the magic eraser a lot, and it has always worked, I don't have any other suggestion. Good luck!

Angie said...

Oh my! I've never had to deal with this so no suggestions either. I would imagine what you have planned to do is the best idea as far as clean the couch and re-paint the wall. Good luck! Let us know if you find any miracle cure.

Mindy said...

Whoah! That's more than I expected! We've been using the crayola washable markers... not so he can color on stuff, but more because it washes right off his hands/clothes, whatever in incidences of true accidents. I had some left over foam core board that Carter spent two hours drawing on the other morning... it was fun! Maybe he feels like paper is too small of a canvas... try giving him poster papers or huge sketch pads and see if that helps him to feel less limited? I don't know. So far both boys are doing well with just keeping it to the proper medium.

Potter Family said...

Holy cow, you have been very patient. I don't know if my kids would live through that much artwork. Sometimes the magic erase will take paint off the wall, but for crayon a dryer sheet works well. I don't know how you get off marker or pen very well. Kevin had mentioned that Ryker is quite an artist. Good luck.

Kim said...

So Tia, when my cousin was younger he wroke with permanent maker on my moms couch and she got it out with this product called Thoro. (i think that is the name.) i will check with her. I comes in a glass bottle. I am not sure if it is still available for purchase or where you would purchase it. I bet that would do the trick. Sometimes hair spray will take out pen. i would test spot first. Good luck

Edee Ulrich said...

What a cutie!! Maybe you should try selling some of his artwork to pay for the damages!! Rubbing alcohol works great to get the pen off of our microsuede couch and other things! Magic erasers are great! We used thoro cleaner growing up on some things, it smells terrible but I am not sure what it is and isn't goood on!

Julie said...

AAAH! That's hard, I'm sorry! I use the magic eraser a lot too. Good luck!
See you this weekend!

Jessica said...

Holy smokes! He's gone crazy. :0) Maybe one day he'll grow up to be an artist.

Kelly said...

The couch one is hard. That's why I bought our annoying slipcovers - so I could throw them in the wash. Meredith is a colorer. Luckily, she's mostly just used chalk, and it wipe right up.

kimbob said...

I love the beginning of your blog, with your pictures!! Good luck but I hope it's just a phase like with my kids. I still have a door that has pencil on it but haven't got it out yet. He is quite the artist, is Santa bringing him something to go with his artistic obsession? :)

Mike and Kaci said...

That is a LOT of artwork! I was expecting a couple of little squiggles on the the wall- holy camoly! Good luck!