Life with young children is certainly full of surprises. For example, you might find a surprise behind the sofa and wonder when your little one stashed it back there, because you can not remember the last time you had that type of snack in the house. There could be a surprise on the bathroom floor, because learning how to use the potty does not always guarantee that the potty will be used in the suggested manner. The other day, I found a surprise on one of the walls in the living room.
At first I was in denial. No, it couldn’t be. Didn’t I throw that yellow highlighter away? Don’t I always put all writing implements away when Dylan will be out of my sight for even two minutes while I change Blake’s diaper? Somewhere along the line, there was a lapse in my supervision that was large enough for Dylan to seize the opportunity to draw on the living room wainscoting with a yellow highlighter.
Fortunately, the wainscoting is sage green and the stain was faint enough that unless you looked right at the wainscoting, you would not have noticed it. Somehow, I did not notice it for at least some time. I still have no idea when it could have happened. Anyways, as soon as I noticed it, I ran to the computer to do a Google search for how to remove yellow highlighter from a painted wall. There were a couple of suggestions, and I decided to go with baking soda and water. I made a paste of it, applied it to the wall, and started wiping it. I knew that it was working because the paper towel was picking up the fluorescent yellow ink. Finally, the paper towels were not picking up any more ink and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully, Google will be able to help me navigate other similar surprises that may come my way.