Make me pretty: Take 2

The kids have always been enthralled with my makeup bag. At home in Portland, I would pacify their interest and desire to be made-up by occasionally putting on a little nude eye shadow on each of the kids. They would then run to the mirror or each other an exclaim, “Oh, don’t my eyes look beautiful?” Eli has also taken things a step further and notices other people’s eye makeup and often compliments them on it. I.e. Erin’s pretty blue shadow on Aloha Days, or the Ross check-out girls’ crazy metallic green eyes. He notices. And he loves it.

Because we have found that Lucy sleeps much better when Eli is out of the room, he has been sleeping in our bedroom at naptime.

A few days ago, I caught him with my make-up bag which is now out on the dressing table in our bedroom. He had been told NOT to get into it, but he looked hilarious, so I took a picture of it, took the makeup away, scolded him with my “big girl voice” and told him to go to bed. End of story.

Till yesterday.

Yesterday, while I was working with some women at the program, dad put the kids down for nap. Or so he thought.

I came home, and after a few minutes went in to check on Eli. The boy had the makeup. And he had gone to town. It was worse than the time in Portland when he got a hold of my spray foundation and covered his naked body and the walls of of our walk-in shower with the ENTIRE can. Note: that stuff is greasy as doesn’t come off of shower tile well.

He not only emptied the can of spray foundation, but he experimented with EVERY piece of make-up in my bag….which is pretty extensive thanks to my make-up artist friend Erin. His arm looked like he was an African…thanks to a heavy coating of mascara. He really painted it on good. And, his face looked like a cross between an African warrior and a lemer. He tried everything…eye shadow, eye liner, face powder, blush, bronzer, color matching foundation…you name it. And then, he must have gotten bored and decided to paint on my comforter….NOT AWESOME either. For the record, color matching foundation bleaches out fabric. Just in case you ever need to know.

Anyhow, he is quite repentent, and has been asking me things like:
“Mom, what can I do that you love?” “How can I make your heart happy again?” “Mom, I’m sorry I did your makeup” “Mom, you don’t have a blanket now huh?” “Mom, can we still go get me a special toy”…..and so on.

Just in case the lesson hasn’t sunken in quite yet and the boy gets another make-up urge…I’m back to locking it up again. Most of my make-up was salvagable, but it might not make it through another Eli episode.

The boy needs some paint and an easel already.

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