Parenting Dilemmas

I walked into Catie's room after her nap and came to a stunned stop in the doorway. My eyes followed a trail of play doh apparati from the bookcase to her bed, where the fun apparently erupted into fountains of play doh goodness. Oh no.... what do I do now?

First, put the kid in timeout because she knows not to play with play doh in bed. But then, as I'm cleaning up the mess, I'm filled with wonder and pride at her abilities. She actually managed to pry the lids off the little pots. She was able to push the stiff handle down on the press thing and form all kinds of play doh spaghetti by herself. She made creative little combinations of play doh colors and shapes. The stuff is embedded in the sheets and little pieces are everywhere, but can I really be mad about this?

As the timeout timer beeps and I hear Catie meekly tiptoeing to check on me, I realize that there's no way I can be upset. It's just too cute.