Sticky Situations {A Sponsored Post}

Have you ever seen a boy so happy to be covered in mud!?

As a mom to a 5 year old boy, if there's one thing I know about- it's messes!
Crayons on the wall. A blizzard of flour. Mud puddles. Cotton candy bigger than your head. Diving headfirst into ice cream cones. Getting into mommy's makeup. Squirting a nearly full bottle of lotion EVERYWHERE! Wet silly putty on the floor. Being an artist...on himself. You name it, we've pretty much seen it all. I have often said my child is a magnet for dirt, because if there's even the slightest chance of a mess to be made, he manages to find a way to make it.

A snow storm of flour, anyone?

The before...but a 5 year old and cotton candy bigger than his head...you can imagine the after!

When you have to eat your ice cream quick on those hot summer days, you just have to go for it...face first!

Of course, these are only a few that I have pictures of. This doesn't show the various times he's decided he wants to be green and colored himself with a marker...right after bath time! Or that time (okay, times) that we had BLUE popcorn...messiest food ever! And you know, that whole 'm&ms melt in your mouth, not in your hands' thing...total nonsense. Oh, and we cannot forget eating the Nutella straight from the jar...with no spoon! Oh yes, we know messes!

Perhaps one of our biggest messes- at least when we were away from home- involved a chocolate fountain. Sounds wonderful, right? Shaun thought so too. Cookies, rice crispy treats, fruit...all dipped in chocolate, and he wanted it ALL. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't let him indulge, at least a little? He had so much fun dipping his food in that chocolate fountain...and even more fun eating his chocolate-y goodness...his messy chocolaty goodness that is!! Oh my goodness, what a mess! Not only was it his mouth and hands, but he somehow managed to spread the chocolate love to his eyebrows and hair! Napkins? Who needs them when you have a perfectly good shirt!? (Why mommy didn't snap a picture, I'll never know!) Being our first time at this particular restaurant  we had no idea and did not come prepared so we had to attempt to lead our 'love to touch EVERYTHING' little boy to the bathroom, all the way across the place to get him cleaned up! We'll never make THAT mistake again! But you want to know the best-or perhaps worst- part of this messy, messy story- he ate strawberries, and along with that chocolate had strawberry juice smeared all over him too. Not so bad, right? Right...unless you're allergic like this mommy here! After some Shaun-y love I was ready for the benadryl!!

With every mess there's a lesson to be learned, right? So, here are a few I've learned over time- from this mess and others:

• Carry a big bag, and make sure there are ALWAYS wet wipes handy! If it's not a chocolate fountain, it's a mud puddle, or a piece of candy, or whatever else your little one finds to make a mess with. Always come prepared for anything!
• But most importantly, remember that sometimes it's okay to have a little mess. Kids are only young once, and they'll look back fondly on those messy memories while we as parents probably won't remember every single mess we cleaned up. So let them have their fun, and worry about the mess later!

Do you have a messy little one too? Would you like to share your stories and tips for a chance to win some awesome prizes, like an iPad mini or tickets to Six Flags? Wet Ones is giving you the chance to do just that with their Sticky Situations Contest on Facebook. How great is that!? I'm entering now myself!

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Wet Ones. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating. All messes are 100% my own!!