Knights Becoming and a Lady in Waiting

Painting Myself Into a Corner

Yesterday, Prince Beryboy, my 1DS6 was the first one up, which always surprises me.  He's more of a last to bed, last up kind of kid, even at the ripe old age of six.

Because I was not yet awake, even though I was, technically, up, I gave him a vague nod and didn't really look at him.  A few minutes later, something tickled at the edge of my brain.  I should look at him.  Something was wrong.

No blood.  No tears.  No black marker.  Okay, we're doing well this morning.  Wait.  Why are his pajamas streaked with white?

On closer look, I realized that his pajamas are liberally painted white. 

After a few moments of motherly ranting and raving, I eventually calmed down enough to ask where he got the paint, why he got the paint, and what else had fallen prey to his artistic endeavors.

The paint was from the stash we keep in the basement storage area.  The storage area was what else he had painted.  Why?  Because it was too plain.

I would like to note for anyone who is in a law enforcement position that I did not commit murder.  Instead, I sat him down in a corner and walked away.  Fast.

I went and took a look at my lovely storage area, complete with plain cedar panels all around, and found the paint.  My son had pretty much covered one of the smaller walls.

I may have cried.  I may have gone into shock.  It's really a bit of a blur.

My husband later assured me that with a lot of hard work we might be able to salvage the cedar panels.  However, he did agree with me on one thing: my oldest son could no longer have his own room down in the basement where he could make trouble.

I don't know.  Somehow we thought he'd be okay down there, but he hasn't been.  He stays up too late (although that's not necessarily a bad thing in our household) and he gets into everything down there.  Games in the middle of the night, painting my storage room before he goes to bed... the list goes on, really.

So last night we moved him into the big bedroom with his two younger brothers.  These are the two brothers that rarely cause problems when they go to bed.  These are the two brothers who are usually asleep in 20 minutes or less.  These are the two brothers who think the oldest brother is cool and will do just about anything to make him laugh.  I know these things, so I thought I prepared.

"Okay, I'm coming up to check on you in thirty minutes.  Anyone who is asleep gets to stay up 15 minutes later tomorrow night.  Anyone who is awake gets to go to bed 15 minutes later tomorrow night.  Any questions?"

They all, even the two-year-old, assured me there were no questions.  They went to bed.  The evening of torture started.

I'm not going to detail the whole evening.  I think it's sufficient to say that all of my sons are going to bed early tonight, Prince Berryboy slept in MY spot, and I didn't get to sleep until well after midnight.

So we've painted ourselves into a corner.  We can't give Prince Berryboy back the basement room and we don't have any other spare rooms at the moment.  I can't clean up the whole basement by tonight.  I can't even clean out one file drawer (my goal for the morning) by tonight.

Yet we also can't keep moving him to our room or staying up all night.  So we're stuck.  Do we take the chance on more paint everywhere or just hope the boys will eventually learn the value of sleep?

I couldn't find a verse in the Bible to help on this one, so I'm asking all you mentors out there to help me out.  Please?  I'm really grouchy without sleep. :)

One Word

1:47 PM, May. 1, 2006 .. Posted by kansaskat

Ok. I am the mom to 3 - the 2 oldest are adopted - and in case you are unaware, adopted kids have a tendency to get into BIG trouble at night....painting would be a small thing compared to some of the stories I have heard (and are gaining) :-)

So I have one word of advice for you ALARM. Yes, it may sound cruel - but it really isn't. You can get a simple door alarm that rings remotel;y (in your BR) and then you know when Dr Destructo is up and out of his room.

It is amazing how soundly you can sleep when you know everyone (& everything) is safe!!

Good Luck!

Kat

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4:17 PM, May. 1, 2006 .. Posted by GenesisFamily

Okay, I don't really have advice, but maybe some encouragement. I have 3 boys (9, 6, 4) who share a room. The 4yo is my trouble maker although he has never painted anything we have had some permanent marker incidents. Anyway, they have been in the same room for about 18 months now and it took about 9 months to get them to go to bed without incident. So, it can be done, it just might take a while. One thing I did was to take almost all the toys out of their room, they just have the beds, one dresser and a few toys. That way they can't do too much damage. Also, have you considered reversing their doornob so that you could lock them in their room? That might keep them from wandering at night.
I hope things get better as the days go on!
Toni

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6:08 PM, May. 1, 2006 .. Posted by flapjacks

Mmm... well done for not commiting murder - I can understand it must have been tempting. .
I do hope you can get the cedar cleaned up.
Our two boys have to share a room and in some ways it just doesn't work - they fight so much and wind each other up. However, there's enough of an age gap to create separate bedtimes - but maybe that's not possible with yours? Or could the younger ones take over the basement room?
Alice

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8:57 PM, May. 1, 2006 .. Posted by nsremom

I'm cautioning you against the lock on the outside idea. I think that's a bit unsafe. I personally know someone who had a house fire and every second counted. Dealing with locked doors should not be in the equation.

I also have had kids share rooms for years and I like it. Sounds like his self-control isn't up to the challenge of being alone for that long. It doesn't mean he's bad or even naughty...just a curious little painter with to many choices.

I had a grocery store runner. He would zip off and drive my batty. So I started with little measures of responsibility to let him test his own self control. (It's a fruit of the Spirit, so I knew it would only take some time!) Sometimes he just couldn't withstand the temptation and I put my big boy in the cart. He didn't like that. But, it was also just to much for him and I got tired of being angry or frustrated. Little doses worked for me.

Good luck. Isn't this parenting thing fun? LOL