When I left this room to answer the phone it was clean. Every single toy had been put away, and Nicholas was sitting at his table with his Curious George flashlight.

We only have 2 working phones in our house - sometimes 3. And being as starved for adult conversation as I am, I am unable to let the phone ring. I MUST answer it so that I can talk about something other than the Wiggles or the fact that yes, that's Elmo and No, Daddy's at work today.

I don't really like the idea of leaving the boys in their room alone, for no other reason that Nicholas might try to pick up his brother and place him in the toy bin. But I can see into the room from the guest room, the room with the working phone.

However, Nicholas knows how to shut the door. And during this particluar phone conversation he shut it on me. I then had to end the conversation and rush back to their room. Where I found this mess. It took a grand total of two minutes for this clean, practically spotless room to become a wreck. What you can't see is that he pulled all of the blankets off his bed. But see the stuffed animals? See the blocks? There are also board books and alphabet flashcards all over the floor. My day planner's also down there. Nick drew on a few of the pages, as if he were trying to schedule appointments for me in my absence.

My favorite is the Stephen King novel on the footrest. Obviously I had been hard at work before the phone rang - or else you might question the reading material I choose for my kids.