Sticky Note Control Panels

As I was cleaning up the sun porch today I noticed that the boys missed a whole lot of play dough when they swept the rug last night. I pulled out the chairs to sweep under the table while I was at it and I saw some small toys shoved under the trestle of the table. Since none of the kids are home I had to get on my hands and knees to get the toys out of the way so that I could get down to sweeping. As I dunked my head under the table I found command central!

My little guy (age 5) spends a lot of time under the table. He likes to stash toys under there and I think it's kind of like his great big cardboard box. Some days it's a rocket ship and other days it's his tent. He likes to use his imagination and I adore that quality even more now that the older ones are "over" that sort of play.

When I dunked under the table I saw that he had placed sticky notes on the table legs with little shapes drawn on them with marker. My immediate reaction was frustration. This is an expensive piece of furniture. Those sticky-it notes are for school supplies, not for play. There had better not be any marker on the table!!!

Stop. I had to stop myself. I had to appreciate what I was seeing. He had spent so much time drawing on lights, or buttons, or something on this paper in effort to create something with his imagination. I'm just glad I found it before he got home and took a second to think about the situation.

I refuse to let my obsessive compulsive tendencies squash his imagination. He's like the only one left in the house who has an imagination anymore!!!

So, I left the sticky it notes on the table. If the epoxy from the glue ruins the stain on my heirloom table...oh well. When he gets home I will ask him what exactly is this thing he has made, and I will tell him that I love it and I will gently remind him next time that he should ask before using mom's school supplies and that we can't just tape things willy-nilly. We have to make sure it is to a surface that will not be ruined by it...and them I'm hoping he invites me to play with whatever it is that he has going on under there!