Monkeying Around #1

Often when we are to embark on a trip (and by "trip," I mean something even as simple as going to the mall), P asks me what time we need to leave the house.  This may seem like a simple question.  If you need to be somewhere at a specific time, you would simply calculate how long it takes to get there, and subtract that number from the preferred arrival time, right?  Wrong.  Not if you have children.  In my 3.5 years of motherhood, I have learned that, even if things seem to going smoothly, it is always necessary to tack on a minimum of ten minutes to the estimated travel time to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances.  This amount of time may be augmented according to various factors, such as whether or not both children are coming (add additional five minutes), duration of the trip (add ten minutes to gather necessary child-related gear), and, among others, whether or not I care about their appearance (add additional ten minutes for a minimum of one complete wardrobe change per child).  Let me provide an example by relaying this morning's events:

J: "Mommy, can I take my green marker to school?"
Me: "No, please leave the marker here.  The markers are for coloring at home."
(silence from my dear offspring)
Me: "OK, are you ready to go?"
J: "Yes."
And when I turn around this is what I see:

What this picture doesn't capture are the additional green decorations on his hands.  Lovely.