Life Hack - Permanent Marker on Leather

I learned another permanent marker life hack today. (It seems like I should have learned this already? I'm wondering if there are any other permanent marker hacks I don't know now....) I learned how to get permanent marker off of carpet years ago with toddler Lily. I learned how to get permanent marker off of wood, plastic, walls last month with little Peter's help. Today I learned that those things don't work on leather. I was very sad, cause Owen drew on the couch. 

We've just got these couches in July! We haven't even had them for 4 months! And for a good hour I thought it was ruined. I was comforted that we had paid extra for the warranty, but man, we can't use the warranty every 4 months when another kid decides to vandalize our home with their graffiti... Ugh. Owen and his darn number 22. I tried different cleaning things on small spaces at a time to make sure they didn't damage the leather. I took a tiny piece of magic marker as I tested it. Leather was ok, and it got a little bit off the surface, but this was stuck on deep. 

I polo'd the mom's group to vent at my misfortune. I assured my mother that yes, I always tell the children "Don't write on the walls/couch/carpet/etc, ONLY on PAPER!" but somehow that just went out the window when Owen decided he should claim the couch as his territory. These markers belong to Lily. She had brought them out to color her mini pumpkin that my parents brought over on Sunday. The markers didn't say they were permanent, but they weren't washable, so they basically are permanent. After scrubbing for a while to no avail, I googled "permanent marker leather" and found lots of things about using spray sun block to get it off. I didn't have any of that on hand, so I tried lotion sun block. Nothing. I was about to run to the store to buy some Sunblock spray, but first started to text a few neighbor moms to see if they had some I could borrow. Kim across the street didn't have sunblock, but said that her grandma told her to use hairspray for that. "Ooh ok! I'll try that!" I went and grabbed the equate hair spray that the kids don't use cause they don't like the smell of, and it worked! It almost took off the "o" on the first test. Then I went over all the letters... yes, this is going to work... how it looked after my first go through on his name.

...then over it all again, and it all came off. Hallelujah, our couch is saved! I have GOT to keep drawing instruments locked up. I do have a keylock on the laundry room door, and I have most of them locked up in there. So that was my high stress point of the day, and I'm thankful it was resolved. Abi found the marker on the couch when she sat in the chair next to it to read. She's finished book 1 of Twilight, and is not onto book 2 and 3 that Corey picked at our friend's house. Abi was excited.

So before Abi saw the marker on the couch, we had been singing Phantom of the Opera for some reason, and when I saw the marker on the couch, I continued to quote Phantom as I cursed Owen (who was at school) "D*** you! You little drawing stinker, you little demon, is this what you wanted to do! Curse you! You little lalala (couldn't think of a rhyme for it), now our couch will never be clean! D*** you! Curse you!" We thought it was funny, and it helped me laugh instead of cry. These kids. I sure love them, they sure give us lots of opportunities to learn patience.

Here's a photo of Peter's adorable little feet this morning.

And him asking me for "nana". "Nana" means "night night" which in Peter speak means "I want to nurse." 

He's pretty adorable, which is why I am still nursing him, but I didn't nurse him this morning. He pouts when I say no.

He recovered quickly - we went downstairs for oatmeal or Halloween candy, whichever one makes him happy/quiet. He has been playing with these blocks and works so hard to fit them together. 

He played contently this evening.

Lily and Corey playing the sax -

Things are good. I'm really relieved that the couch got clean.