Obedience, Literally

Thanks to the 75% off clearance at the One Spot, both kids are now the proud owners of their very own, very cool 4-n-1 pens. Eli has Spidey and Chloe has Hulk.  Not exactly among Little Girl's first fifty choices, but it's all they had.  And besides, no matter who's picture is on it,  who would have ever thought that in this economy a little bitty quarter could buy so much fun.  Not only do these pens write (which for a toddler can lead to a myriad of fun and mischevious adventures), but it is also equipped with a stamper, a red light that brightens the pen when you write, and bubbles.  (The kids still don't know about the bubbles.) I've actually been battling pen envy myself.

A few day ago while the kids were at the table playing with their pens, I was in another room tooling on the computer, when I heard a panicked shriek coming from the dining room.  I took off running to find Chloe near tears, pleading with Eli to please, please, please stop stamping his nose.  The poor girl just stresses out to no end when Eli is being Eli, and he just won't listen to reason.  Anyways, there he was with a bright blue nose, and it wasn't easily washing off.  So, we had a big long talk about not stamping one's nose, and how stamps are happier on little hands. 

A couple of days later, on Sunday, I was already at evening church, and Patrick was frantically trying to get himself dressed in order to get the kids and himself to the service on time.  Once again, no luck.  Here comes Eli down the hall, announcing in a big, proud, excited voice, "I didn't stamp my nose! I didn't stamp my nose!"

Black ink (he used Chloe's stamp this time) covered his tongue, teeth, and lips..... just in time for church.  But how could we be mad? After all, he was very careful not to stamp his nose.