If she is like this at 3...

[Leslie2k]

I have 3 kids, Megan, age 6; Nikki, age 3.5; Drew, age 1 month.
Now bringing home another baby is an adjustment for everyone, but Nikki seems to be making the most of it. Bear in mind that this is the same child that decided it would be a great idea to give herself a makeover a couple of weeks ago. She cut her own hair and used a black permanent marker to do her toe nails...

Saturday, Nikki is supposedly taking a nap. Meg wandered downstairs to get something and i hear "go see mommy, nikki". In walks nikki, black from the knees down from yet another permanent marker she had scrounged up. oh, and you can't forget the little hitler-esque moustache she gave herself. She had also colored all over her bedroom window with the same permanent marker. After yelling a bit, I put her in time out on the stairs while i went back to feeding drew.

''nikki, go see mommy'' oh man, what now vaseline. she found the vaseline i had in the diaper bag and smeared it all over my floor, walls, her clothes and hair. note- vaseline does not come out of anything.

5 minutes later, we are getting in the car to pick up Dad. i am ready to ship nikki to reform school at this point. Meg and drew are in the car already and nikki turns and says over her shoulder to me, " are you SURE you can handle 3 kids?'' I didn't know whether to hug, spank or laugh.

If she is like this at 3, can I survive until she is 18?

Leslie


ps- Windex removes permanent marker from nearly everything, thank goodness

[emeleel]

Those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work wonders on permanent marker, too. Just be careful with it on painted surfaces. Erin decided to decorate the top of her chest of drawers a while back. Small pictures, thankfully. At age 7. (See how encouraging I can be? )

Nikki sounds like quite a handful!

[lynnzop[$]]

I adore Nikki. We should set her up with Cindy's #4.

[Leslie2k]

This is the same child, at around 3 years old, that:

Wednesday- we discovered the fridge was broken. All of the food had gone bad. Turns out that Nikki got up from her nap Tuesday while Daddy was napping and went into the kitchen. She opened the fridge, moved everything out of the way, turned off the fridge dials, moved everything back into place and went back to bed.
Thursday- We discovered Nikki had put a Lime green crayon into the dryer. With a huge load of white clothes.
Friday- 2pm, I get off of work at 3, I get a call from hubby. We need to take Nikki to urgent care when I get home from work. Why? she shoved a crayon up her nose. All the way. $200 "surgical" procedure at her regular doctors to remove it...

*sigh*

[pippadaisy[$]]

I shouldn't laugh. I know I shouldn't. Beanie pulled all the wall border off her walls, leaving just the paper backing, and then proceeded to decorate all her walls with Sharpie and nail polish. She and Nikki would get along like a house afire.

[lynnzop[$]]

Nik at three is already famous in the family. We were going to dinner on Mother's Day and I called my mom to wish her happy Mother's Day. All Dan can hear of the conversation is "She didn't...." and then me giggling. When I hung up the phone, the first thing he said was "What did Nikki do now?"

At least she didn't have stitches before she was 1 like her cousin did.

[wivabef]

Wow. I'm feeling a lot better about Gretchen.

[mtomm[$]]

When I read threads like this it really makes me love my children that much more.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Resolve carpet cleaner cleans crayon off upholstery extremely well. Glass plus takes red crayon off wall painted with flat paint!
(My son was a budding young artist)

[jgibson2[$]]

My youngest decided to shave when he was 3. With a real razor. He didn't entirely remove his eyebrows, but he took a fair amount of skin. Fortunately he left no permanent scars.

He's 10 and basically an easy kid to manage now. There's hope.

[emeleel]

EEK!

Erin got hold of a razor that DH accidentally left on the tub when she was 4 or so, and cut her chin with it. Still has a bit of a double scar from the double blade.

I once cut big chunks out of my eyebrows because I wanted to "shape" them - I'd been reading one of my mom's woman-type magazines. But I didn't want to pluck because that sounded painful, so out came the scissors.

I was 12. Yes. 1-2. Ten plus two.

[lynnzop[$]]

Jer read Nik's antics and howled.

I think he may be giving her some pointers next week.

[Leslie2k]

I forgot about the razor. That was a couple of weeks ago. Top lip, tried to shave her "mouse-tache".

Leslie

[lynnzop[$]]

But she's so cute and innocent looking! Does she want a bear from Canada?

[Leslie2k]

lol She would shave it then try to ride it.

[Helen_B[$]]

Leslie, sorry about your exciting life. I remember visiting friends one evening, and the three year old went off to play quietly--and emptied her mom's Oil of Olay all over the bedroom carpet and rubbed it in.

My choice for removing marker and crayon is Solumel, a Melaleuca product, which has been know to remove black permanent marker from surfaces like leather upholstery. I know it worked on my greenish microfibre loveseat. It's a mild product, as well.
You might want to consider Melaleuca products, since their laundry, dishwasher and dishwashing liquids, and other cleaning products are nontoxic. (Cindy's #4 drank a sample of the laundry detergent once, enough for a load of laundry, and lived. He blew bubbles for a while, and his poops smelled funny though.)

My daughter will be pleased to know that another three year old than hers turned off the fridge. Guess her little guy wanted to see if the dial turned. Everything was warm by the time she noticed. Guess he's not old enough to be allowed to get anything from the fridge alone yet--she was letting him get his yoghurt cups, and his sippy cup which she left for him. So far, he hasn't gotten into the markers yet. (She thinks that telling him "no" will keep him out of her stuff indefinitely-hope she's right, once the baby arrives.)

[pippadaisy[$]]

Helen_B said

(She thinks that telling him "no" will keep him out of her stuff indefinitely-hope she's right, once the baby arrives.)

[pippadaisy[$]]

And hey Leslie, if it makes you feel any better... I went to Home Depot on Sunday with a child covered in watercolor paints and a hair-do made of Catch-a-Bubble solution.