The other day I went into Margot's newly-painted bedroom and was somewhat alarmed to see a series of about 10 Post-It flags stuck along her wall. On each flag, she had carefully drawn a frowny face -- with a black Sharpie. Despite her relatively neat efforts, some amount of Sharpie had ended up on the wall. The following conversation ensued:
Me: "Margot, what are these?"
Margot: "These are all of the days that Grandma and Grandpa aren't here yet." (This was an allusion to the upcoming mid-January visit of my parents and my sisters.)
Me: "That is a very nice idea, but you can't put stickers up on your wall - it pulls the paint off."
Margot: "These aren't stickers, they are Post-It flags."
Me: "Okay, well, you can't put things that stick up on your wall. And you also can't write on the wall with a Sharpie. That doesn't wash off, so now we'll have to paint over these marks."
Margot: "I didn't write on the wall with the Sharpie. I wrote on the Post-It flags. Some it just got on the wall."
Me: "I know you didn't mean to do it - but we just painted your room and this does mess up the new paint."
Margot (pausing): "But, Mommy, isn't it great that all of the other walls still look really good?!"
