A Solution to Two Problems

As you know, Libby and I take Martin to school every Tuesday. We all have a good time, and each week week we come home with a different art project. I now have a problem that I am sure every mom has: too many art projects, not enough space to display them, and I'm too sentimental to throw them away. At first I displayed the art on the fridge, but that quickly filled up. Then they somehow started getting taped to the wall above Martin's table in the living room. (I think I have Dave to thank for that.) Now when we get home from school Martin asks for a piece of tape so that he can hang up his latest masterpiece. However, as you can see below, the wall is getting pretty full. A couple weeks ago I tried to tell Martin that we needed to take some of his pictures down. He was surprisingly eager to do so. Then I found out why he was so eager, he interpreted 'take them down' to mean 'take then downstairs'. So now we have a few art projects on display in the toy room as well.

My second problem has to do with the fact that Martin is obsessed with using his scissors. Thankfully he seems to have learned his lesson about not cutting hair. However, he is cutting every piece of paper that he can get his hands on. Fortunately, at least for now, picking up and throwing away the little scraps of paper is just as much fun as cutting them, so even though he makes a mess he is good about cleaning it up. After the hair cutting incident I have drilled into Martin's head that 'we only cut paper'. Apparently I needed to be more specific. A couple of days ago I caught Martin busy cutting pages out of one of his favorite books. I was a little relieved that it wasn't a library book, but still pretty upset since it was a really nice book. Martin didn't seem to understand what he did. Maybe the next time he wants to read it he will understand why I got so upset.

So today, Martin was trying to find a place to tape up his Christmas tree that he had made in school this week, but he couldn't find a spot. I decided that it was time to get rid of some of the older, less meaningful art projects and make room for the new ones. Then I had a great idea. Instead of just taking Martin's art work off the wall and throwing it away, I gave it to him to cut into little pieces and then throw away. It worked like a charm. He has been busy cutting for a long time and doesn't seem to care at all that it is a school project that is getting destroyed.