My two year old.... no, one of my two year olds has quite a reputation and he gains himself quite a few nicknames. On several occassions I have referred to him as Houdini. There are ways that I try to contain him, but he manages to overcome them. We're working on self control and discipline and obeying, but he's two. All of my two year olds before him were much more well-behaved than he is. I do have to admit none of them were as much fun as he is. Am I supposed to be this amused by his mischief?
We have a wooden gate that has metal hardware attaching it to the top of our stairway. He's not only clumsy and can't be trusted to stay upright on the stairs, but he's a mischief-maker and can't be trusted in an area that is overloaded with big kid stuff and gadgets. So we have this gate that is truly worth it's weight in gold and has upheld all of our expectations and then some. Of course, no gate-maker could anticipate a Mini-Moose hanging on it, shaking it, and all around abusing it, particularly when Daddy would come through the front door and he'd scream in delight and shake the gate so hard you could hear it downstairs. This led to the hardware falling out and being replaced twice. Finally, the wall gave and the hardware came out again, taking our wall with it. I'm serious here, people. What's a Dad to do?
My brilliant husband applied two very unasthetic-pleasing boards to the wall and anchored them in each corner where there are studs holding said boards in place. Mini-Moose or not, those suckers aren't budging. We're a few months into the use of the boards on the wall holding the gate and it's true, it has not budged. Of course the other day we saw one of the spindles in the gate bent out as if some kind of someone was trying to push their way through. *sigh* It's currently working but that gate has seen better days.
On the same hand, my Taz has figured out how to open doors. It really took him quite a while to figure out door handles but he persistently kept working at it and mastered it quite well. We now have loop locks high on all our doors to keep him out of where he shouldn't go, like the closet. Here's where I mention that he has a blue vacuum that is very lightweight and we used to let him vacuum away to his heart's delight. He likes to climb into the closet, hug his blue buddy and close the door. Then he knocks on the inside of the closet door waiting for you to open it so he can smile and say, "Hi!". It is unecessary for me to explain why this game can only take place while highly supervised.
My smart little guy has figured that if he jiggles and shakes the door just the right way, he can pop the hook lock and get in. I'm sure you can imagine just how pleased he is when he reaches any forbidden destination. Added to our list of doors that need to be watched is the bathroom door. He's found he really likes to play in the sink, repeatedly flush the toilet, lick every toothbrush, and unravel the toilet paper. Once he unraveled the toilet paper into the bowl, and having been a Mom for a bit, I knew his new found fascination with the bowl would not end with just paper but other items as well, such as the action figure we had to CUT out of our toilet water line about 6 years ago. Oh yeah. Fun stuff.
So my husband tells my son last night that he's not sure what's worse; the fact that there is a mini screwdriver taped to the bathroom door, or the fact that he doesn't even need to ask why. This is where I tell you that we use the mini screwdriver to unlock the bathroom door that we lock behind us as we leave the bathroom. No jiggling that handle, buddy. Ha!!
And those heavy, professional building doors that have long silver handles? Houdini was at the doctor's office yesterday, told me "bye bye!", pushed on the door and started running down the hallway. He was clearly done, and I don't blame him.
Seems I should use his Monkey leash on him more often.
I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? Ecclesiastes 3:22
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