Not Spoiling. Really.

We really don’t spoil our children. Really. Sometimes I even think we (meaning me) can be mean. We make them brush their teeth, wash a lot, fold their clothes, take their dishes to the sink, say “Yes, Ma’am”, help their little brother, and be appreciative. When we took the Crayola Factory tour today, they were good and took turns. Afterwards, we went to the Crayola Store, and we limited their treasures-to-go to $5. Why? I don’t know. It just seems like spoiling to buy them every little (or big) thing they want everywhere we go. I know we don’t go on vacation (that) often. But I think gifts every day (or every day of vacation) would spoil them. I want them to appreciate little things, and if you always buy the big things, they begin to expect big things. Then little things don’t matter. It’s a theory, and I’m taking a chance, but I like it. And that’s what’s important.

We drove to Easton, Pa for the tour (and learned how crayons and markers are made). And learned a few things:
#1: After a new marker is made, it has a white tip. It takes about 15 minutes for the colored ink to reach the tip. So you can’t use it right away!
#2: If you (well, probably your preoccupied child) leaves a marker lid off all night, you can soak the tip in water for 30 seconds, recap it, and it’ll work again after about 24 hours. : ) Handier to know Before you have thrown away scores of markers. But it’ll still save quite a few too!
#3: You can use white Model Magic (by Crayola) to make tons of things. We used tokens to buy white, and they taught us some tricks. One is to pull off a piece of white, color it with (preferably washable markers), then knead it to color it! You can keep it up to make it darker. Clay made a mushroom, and Mary Claire made a flower. Then wash your hands!
#4: They have a Dryer! After you paint, finger paint, and make prints, you put your art into this big pizza oven-looking thing, and it slowly runs your art through a heater/fan, and dries it!
#5: Crayons are completely non-toxic (so you can eat them). They are made of paraffin wax, clay (to make them stronger), and pigment to color them.
#6: The glue that holds the paper wrapper on is just cornstarch and water!
#7: They also make the paper long enough to go around the crayon twice, and that also makes the crayon stronger and less likely to break.

We are back on the road, planning to see the new Disney movie, G-Force at an IMAX theater near where we had lunch (kids made their own pizzas at Uno Pizzeria). Ethan’s been sleeping till now, and now he’s awake and mad! He gets so disoriented when he wakes up away from his bed. We’ll pull over, and maybe make the movie. It starts in 15 minutes.
**Update: We did make the movie, and it was cute (and compared to Transformers and Harry Potter, it was clean! No really bad language except, “Get your butt out of my face”). Ethan kinda made it through. He had to go to the bathroom about 10 minutes before the end, and then he was crawling around between the seats, but he made it. Tiny Success.

Tomorrow: Shopping in Philadelphia, Major Landmarks like these, and dinner at Rita’s!

Extra:
We think Clay has dandruff. He was itching a couple nights ago, and his scalp had peeling bits of skin. Ches got him the nice (coal tar or something?) shampoo, and it’s helped so much. I washed it again today with the shampoo, but it says to only use it twice a week. How did I never notice? Or did I not know what it was?

AND, did I get to tell you about Clay’s ENT appointment? It went well, and the doctor was so nice and helpful. She’s going to take out his adenoids, and reduce his turbinates (the big ball-type things you see when you look inside his nose). He’s using a nasal spray to see if she can get the turbinates to reduce in size, if not, she can do it while she’s in there. The surgery is August 6th. It’s outpatient so it shouldn’t be too bad. He is frankly relieved that there is something to be done, and that maybe he’ll be able to breathe better, soon.