All Taped Up

Lately, Matthew has been complaining that it irritates him when his blanket comes off of him during the night, as he twists and turns in his sleep.  So, when I do my final check on him at night before heading off to bed myself, I always make sure to cover him up with his blanket again.  A few nights ago, I approached his bed and reached for the blanket that was bunched around his waist.  I tugged and tugged but found, to my surprise, that I couldn't budge the blanket. Huh, I thought - what's up with that?  Then, as I looked closer, I started to laugh - the little monkey had attached his blanket to his pajamas with strip after strip of masking tape wound around his waist!  Aside from the fact that he's not supposed to be 'crafting' in bed at night, I thought it was fairly clever, actually - whatever works, I guess.  Anyway, after struggling for a few minutes, I was finally able to separate blanket from boy and proceeded to tuck him in around his shoulders.  I went to bed chuckling.

The next morning, I heard Matthew calling me from his bedroom - something that's a bit unusual, because he usually comes to wake me up in the morning.  A bit puzzled, I went to his room and found him in a distressed state, saying that he couldn't walk.  Concerned, I approached his bed, only to start laughing again as I got close enough to see that around Matthew's ankles was wrapped more than a few strips of masking tape - his feet were essentially handcuffed together!  His explanation?  He thought that this might help his feet from sticking out in different directions from under the blanket.  Alas, poor little mite - although I was able to tear the tape enough to separate his feet, it was too painful when I tugged at the tape stuck to his skin and so we had to leave it there.  In the few days that have passed since that morning, bath water has helped to soften and 'unstick' much of the tape, but a few little pieces persist and dot his ankles; every once in a while during the day he yells "ow" when an end piece of a tape fragment gets caught on something and the fine hair on his ankles gets pulled out.  Guess that'll be the last time he tries that one!  Oh well - I guess it will eventually wear off!