Beware when they get quiet!

I have firsthand experience that when a child gets unusually quiet, it often means that he/she is getting into trouble. If only I had remembered this a few minutes earlier today.

I was going through old coupons and throwing out expired ones before clipping some new ones. B. decided to throw all of the old coupons on the floor and was sitting there next to the dining room table playing with them. I continued what I was doing until my brain suddenly focused in on the sounds coming from B.'s corner of the floor. It was not crumpled paper that I was hearing. B. was throwing handfuls of dirt from a potted plant all over the floor in the dining room and in on the carpet in the attached living room. It took a minute for the situation to settle in before I yelled, "No! What are you doing?"

"I play with dirt Mama."

"No, no more dirt."

I then brushed him off and started sweeping and vacuuming up the mess. B. just walked away and started playing with cars instead. We chatted about plants and dirt in the house a little more later, and I am hoping there will not be a repeat performance again on another day.

-Denise