I Swear This Was Not My Idea!

No, seriously. This was not my idea. I was just sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when Edward came up to me with the roll of tape. He was being loud, as usual, and I was concerned with our dwindling tape supply after the previous few tape incidents. Last time he’d found the roll he had decided to fully wrap the banister going upstairs, which was somewhat invisible (as advertised), but still surprising when one goes to grab the banister and expects to feel wood in their hands and instead feels something crinkly and, at places, sticky.

Well anyway, I suggested that he not play with the tape, and then, I guess to be funny, he pulls a big piece off and sticks it over his mouth. Again, this was not my doing. He spontaneously taped his own mouth shut. So of course I laughed and gave him as much positive reinforcement as I could.

He thought that this was a great game, so he got a second piece and stuck that on too. And I like noise and noisy things as much as, if not more than, the next guy, but I have to say that I enjoyed the silence. And when Ruby came bounding over with her crashing feet and her outside voice, I was pleased when she decided to join in the game.

Now for those of you who are concerned about my children suffocating, I will tell you that I had the same thought. I monitored their breathing carefully, and took the tape away once they were all fully taped up in their noise holes. Yes, “noise holes, not nose holes” was our motto that day. They were happy and quiet and having fun, and I was happy and quiet and having fun. It was a win-win-win.

I am sorry to report that the tape has since come off, and I will be screamed at in my ear holes multiple times over the course of the day, but I will always fondly recall those fleeting minutes of peace that were had on that February day in the winter of 2015, when it was too cold to do anything for months, and a few pieces of tape were enough to provide entertainment for the whole family. I wish I’d thought of it myself.