My 2-year-old, the artist

My 2-year-old son is intent on exploring his artistic talents. 

A few weeks ago, he found a marker and tried his hand as a graffiti artist by tagging his bedroom walls, dresser, piggy bank, window, bed, bedding and teddy bears. He became a tattoo artist when he used the same marker to turn himself into a smurf after he was done with his room.

Tonight, he explored the art of stained glass. He had a brief introduction to this with the blue marker episode. Instead of creating translucent blue window panes, though, he tried a new medium: Vicks Vapo Rub. By the time we caught on to what he was doing, the bottom half of a window in his brother's room sported opaque, wavy glass. Very sticky, greasy, opaque, wavy glass. The very creative whorls and swirls he had drawn diffused the light into a soft glow. It was beautiful, and stinky.

The smell gave him away. When the central air fan kicked on, it picked up the scent and wafted it through every vent in the house. When the living room started smelling like Vicks Vapo Rub, we went looking for the culprit. We were not surprised to find our troublesome 2-year-old, completely absorbed in his gooey endeavor. The stench was so bad, it knocked us back on our heels, made our noses burn and our eyes tear up. Our toddler, of course, wasn't bothered in the least.

After several hand washings and a bath, he still went to bed with menthol-fresh skin tonight.