Today is the last day of school for the children and in an attempt to begin summer vacation properly, I helped the boys clean their room. Upon doing so, I discovered a few unusual things:
1. As discussed previously, Logan placed a permanent lock on his dresser drawer- without permission. I discovered that his two brothers have figured out how to bypass this lock and take BB’s from Logan’s private stash. This has resulted in Logan opening a safety deposit box at the local bank. In it, he keeps BB’s and a jumbo pack of Juicy Fruit gum, half eaten.
2. While I appreciate the sentiment, writing the words “I love mom” with a ball point pen on your pine bunk bed probably isn’t the best way to show how much you care. Nathanael and I discussed several different ways to express affection in a less destructive way, like saying I love you with Murphy’s Oil Soap and elbow grease.
3. This room actually has a wooden floor. This was a shocking discovery since it has been completely covered with Lego pieces. For years I believed the floor was green, red, blue and yellow and terribly uncomfortable to walk on.
4. Despite the impression rough-and-tumble boys give, they actually do appreciate having flowers in their bedroom. While no one admitted it, I did overhear a conversation where one son said to the other, “When this flower dies, I know where to get more.”
5. The boy who knows where more flowers grow.
6. While cleaning this window, I discovered a complete and intact butt-print on the glass. I’m fairly certain that this artifact is exclusive to a boy’s bedroom and makes me wonder who the lucky recipient of this assertive gesture was.
Despite all the discoveries, it came as no shock that the boys now behave differently living in a perfectly clean room. Most people appreciate order in their lives but I wasn’t expecting them to suddenly begin turning their dirty socks the right way before sending them to the laundry room. I didn’t anticipate that they would ever walk their gum wrappers to the kitchen trash can rather than deposit them on the floor under the bed. They have even been kinder to each other.
Which is why I wrote “I love Logan, Isaiah, and Nathanael” with a ballpoint pen on their pine bunk bed.
Hey. They started it.
