Colgate to the Rescue

This morning I had been talking to Justin for a while. I then went downstairs and started some laundry. I came back up and grabbed a towel so I could jump in the shower. On my way down the hall to bathroom, I realized that I hadn't heard a sound from Gavin for quite a while. For some children, this would not be unusual but, for Gavin, no sound usually meant impending disaster. Especially since he had been in one of those moods all morning where he was going from one "NO! NO!" activity to the next!!! Well, I went into the front room and the first thing I noticed was him concentrating very hard on a black sharpie marker in his hand. He was making cute little black marks on his hands, I then noticed those black marks were also on his face and clothes!! As I walked closer to take the marker away, I saw that the entire top of one of my kitchen chairs was mostly black. I also had a couple spots on my coffee table that were also black. Well, Justin came out with some Fantastik all purpose cleaner after he heard my explanation of distress and Gavin's wails of woe for getting in trouble!! Of course, the Fantastik did nothing but make the black even more shiny and pretty! I decided I had no choice but to Google how to get permanent marker out. After googling, I found a few lists of things but most of them I was worried would damage the wood finish. I came upon one that claimed that letting toothpaste sit on it for about 5 minutes and then scrubbing with a toothbrush would take it off and not damage the wood. I scoffed and went to read the next idea when Justin said, you may as well try it. I rolled my eyes thinking yeah, right. I went and grabbed a tube of colgate travel paste and slopped some on. I got one of Abby's old toothbrushes and started scrubbing. I was amazed as the black marker came up!!!! We ran out of Colgate and had to use AquaFresh but both worked fairly well. You can still see some very faint marks but overall, we were pleased with the toothpaste clean up!!!!! Now, I only hope the Zout will work on his clothes!!! Thanks Colgate!!