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Entropy

I would like to register a complaint. I am trying my best to put things away, keep things in their proper places, be organized, so that when I need something I know where to find it. My son thinks it is his job (perhaps his calling) to take things out of their proper places and scatter them throughout the house.

Today I needed the lime squeezer (I made chicken chili). As I looked in the utensil drawer, I had a vague visual memory of Luke carrying the squeezer around, gleefully opening and closing it. I have no idea where it is.

A few days ago I got out Luke's monitor (we haven't had it on for a few weeks now) so that the babysitter could sit in the basement and watch TV while still listening for Luke. I kept careful track of it for most of the day, until it was time to put lotion on Amanda. As I did that, I heard Luke laughing and running around. When I was done with Amanda, the monitor was gone. I still can't find it.

Luke loves playing with the ladle. Usually I let him (he says "bowl! Bowl") as he carries it around and pretends to cook with it. This is usually fine, since I always find it before I need it. This morning he was playing with it. This afternoon I needed it. I couldn't find it.

Finally, he enjoys going to the kids' dishes drawer, finding the sippy cup lids, taking out the valves and separating the valves from the lids and the cups. I have very carefully kept an inventory of cups and valves, so that I don't end up with week old cups of milk in random places in the house. Also, we have exactly 4 cup/lid/valve sets, and I really don't want to have to buy any more. However, with no sets in the drawer or dishwasher, I might have to give in.

A friend of mine (a physics major) once speculated that because children were sites of locally decreasing entropy, all around them entropy had to increase. Although I may have misunderstood the precise meaning of the physics involved, Luke seems bent on being the poster child for that theory.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Last I saw it, the citrus press was on the side table by the fireplace.
September 2, 2008 at 8:41 PM
mathmom said…
Found! Thank you, anonymous! I found the ladle in the dishwasher (after I rescued it from Luke). Any clues on the monitor? =)
September 2, 2008 at 9:04 PM
kadia said…
Even before he could speak, David was extremely good at finding things, whether he'd removed them himself or not. You just had to ask in a way he could understand, and he'd either bring it back or show you where it was. Just a thought.
September 11, 2008 at 11:47 AM
mathmom said…
That's a good idea. He did find the monitor (in our closet). The ladle was in the dishwasher, where I had put it so that I could wash it. The sippy cup valve reappeared while Amanda was exploring on the porch. I don't know how she found it or where it was...
September 11, 2008 at 9:44 PM
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