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Walking Disastrophe

Luke can get into more trouble in 5 minutes than I can get him out of in half an hour. Eleanor has taken to calling him a "Walking Disastrophe", which I think describes the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake.

This morning: he climbed over the knee wall, past the dish drainer to stand on the counter in front of the "baking cupboard". He then took out the baking powder and emptied all of it out into a bowl I had just washed. Then, because he knows that you should clean up while cooking, he put the baking powder container back in the cupboard. He was trying to get out some spices ("Mmmmmm. Yummy!") when I came back downstairs. Before I got the spices away from him he got some powdered cloves on his tongue, which made him pretty sad.

Of course the problem is not just that he is so terribly inventive about trouble, but also that I keep trying to get other things done around the house. This morning, for example, I was moving laundry from the washer to the dryer. Other disastrophes he has been involved with have been while I was cooking dinner, or helping Amanda go potty, or Eleanor with homework.

The redeeming factor in all of this is that he is so very very cute. He is proud of his exploits, and he really doesn't understand why I might have a problem with what he is doing. As far as he can tell, he's just doing the things that his parents and sisters do, and why shouldn't he? When I take him away from the mess he's just made, he is terribly sad and clearly feels that some injustice has been done. The question is, will he be more or less trouble when he figures out the real way that things work?

Comments

Lenise said…
Well, there's ONE thing my boys haven't gotten into yet ;)

My recent disastrophes usually occur when I'm trying to put Daniel down for a nap. You can imagine what happens with two wild men! Actually, Jay used to get into more trouble on his own than the two of them do now. He usually emptied something in the bathroom or kitchen: soap, conditioner, once or twice he spread a stick of deodorant all over our bedroom. Good times.
mathmom said…
Lenise---I know at least 2 people (including you) with 3 boys. I don't know what I would do if they were all like Luke (I have seen several boys with completely different dispositions, and I might be able to handle them).

I feel grateful that my girls are (mostly) frozen by the television set. On the one hand, I feel bad about using the "electronic babysitter." On the other hand, when I really need to be unavailable, they stay out of trouble.

Luke has already emptied shampoo bottles with the help of Amanda, I think: he wants to empty them and she waits around to see what happens and assists if he has difficulties. He has gotten into my deodorant once (fortunately it was almost gone). I do think that much of Luke's trouble comes from the fact that he thinks he is grown up, but he just doesn't understand why grownups do the things they do.
Anonymous said…
More.

Ella

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