Why 3-year-olds should never be left alone.

It's seriously inevitable.

You have a child. He doesn't create a lot of mischief. He's fairly well-behaved.

And then it happens.

You let your guard down.

And this is what happens:

I know what you're thinking...

"Did Thaddeus bludgeon those two dogs to death!?"

"Did Thaddeus amputate one of his own legs, and hobble around for awhile, thus creating blood spatterings all over the floor and furniture!?"

No.

What he did was far worse.

He took 4 bottles of nail polish from my mom's retail center (shown here):

(See the missing bottles near the bottom? Did I mention each of them was red?)

...and he painted the town red. Literally.

Needless to say, he was in a ton of trouble.

Tom and I weren't here when it happened, since we were still in Michigan. Thad had been staying with my parents for the week, and this was just a few days into his trip.

And, obviously, it didn't go over well with my parents.

They weren't upset about what he did, but the fact that he did it sneakily. And then he copped an attitude with my mom when she asked him what he was doing.

I think he learned his lesson.

I think I did, too.

That whole "never leave your child alone" thing?

Yeah, I think I'll take that a little more seriously in the future.