Nose for News, By Sarah Stultz

Have you ever had a moment when your otherwise energetic child gets eerily quiet?

From previous experience with my own children, I know that it can never be a good sign as that usually means one thing: trouble.

It has happened before with my daughter, Sophie, and it happened again with my son, Landon, on Sunday evening.

We were driving back to Albert Lea from a graduation open house in Wells when I heard Landon reach for and successfully grab his bookbag in the backseat. The bag had a bunch of things in it to keep him occupied from when we were at church earlier in the day. There was a little car, a couple coloring books, a box of crayons and a few markers.

At one point, it sounded like Landon was coloring in the coloring book. For a split second I questioned whether he would get a little creative and color on the seats, but I quickly dismissed that idea.

I don’t remember much else that happened in the car on the way home because my mother called from out of town.

The next thing I knew, we were back at our house, and I opened the door to get Landon out of the car. He proudly reached out his hand to show me he had colored his entire hand with purple and blue marker. As he began to climb out of his seat, I discovered that not only did he color one hand, but he colored both hands, both arms and his entire face.

I couldn’t help but crack a smile — and utter a sigh of relief — as I knew it was washable marker.

My husband was quick to take a photo with his phone as it reminded us of an experience we had with our daughter when she was probably 2 or 3.

She came across a permanent marker and drew all over her face with that marker.

That was an experience that was not fun, and needless to say, that marker did not come off as easily as Landon’s did Sunday.

Have you had any experiences similar to that with your own children or grandchildren? I’ve heard of other children who have found flour or sugar and dumped it out all over the kitchen and themselves. I’ve heard of children coloring all over the walls.

I’ve had a little marker on the walls, but nothing a good Magic Eraser couldn’t handle.

While sometimes stressful, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.