We Live in a Nudist Colony

Over the past week, Sam has rediscovered a penchant he had when he was 18 months old for taking off his clothes. Several evenings over the past few days we've heard him rummaging in his closet after we've put him to bed and had gone up to see what he was doing. Most of those evenings we've found him getting toys out of his closet completely naked, no pajamas, no pull-up. We help him get dressed and back to bed, but the process is a bit disturbing.

This newfound freedom of Sam's does have its humorous side, though. At bedtime, I always read to him, Joy joins us in prayers, and then we share hugs and kisses all around. Often Sam will have to hunt for the hugs and kisses he's going to give us - I've had mine be out in the hall, and Joy's have been under the bed. This past week, though, the hugs and kisses have been in his pajamas. "Wait," he'll proclaim, "I've found them!" and then proceed to zip open his pajamas, reach down to his knees, pretend to pull something out, put it on his lips, and then turn to give us hugs and kisses.

The best story comes from Monday night. I was at dinner with a job candidate, so Joy was putting the boys to bed by herself. She left Sam happily playing in his room as she put Noah to bed, and when she came out Sam had left both his room and his box of markers empty. She hunted him down only to find him without pants or diaper, marking all over himself. He had decided to draw on his big cardboard box that currently serves as an elevator and must have decided the box shouldn't have all the fun. He had given himself a unibrow, his knees were different colors, the tops of his feet looked like those of hobbits. But Joy found the best part when Sam turned to go upstairs. Evidently, his bottom had begun to itch, so he took a marker and scratched it. The results were as you can imagine - his bottom was covered with marker, fortunately the washable kind.

We'll see where this nudity goes next.