I remember reading this book both as a small child and as an adult, and thinking about how much it would be make me crazy to be the mother of a toddler who did crazy things like flushing a watch down a toilet and unraveling all of the toilet paper.
And then yesterday I caught Cole doing this:
In the period of one day, Cole dropped my cellphone in our garbage can (full of cantelope guts...PERFECT!), dumped the dog food into the water dish, threw out every single freshly washed and folded item of clothing in my laundry basket one by one, pulled Nala's tail, dumped the contents of my purse AND the diaper bag, threw every single sock in my underwear drawer at the dogs (laughing hysterically the entire time), pulled out all my (clean) panties from the drawer and dragged them all over the house, pulled all the DVDs off the shelf and onto the floor, dumped his shoe basket, discovered how to pull out dirty clothes from his hamper, emptied two drawers and two baskets of stuff in the bathroom, pushed two dining table chairs across the room, and pulled out two drawers and three cupboards worth of kitchen items from the cupboards I can't put baby locks on.
Whew!
I'm not gonna lie, it's hard. It's hard to just sit back and let him make a mess of the house I spend hours putting back together after he goes to bed every night. It's frustrating when I turn my back for a second and the toilet paper ends up all over the floor (which, by the way, it still is. So if you come over, you'll have to just rip the toilet paper from the pile on the floor. Don't judge me, it was laundry day.). But I have to just keep telling myself how important it is for Cole to learn and explore and make messes (and someday, help clean them up...eagerly awaiting that day...).
It's like walking down the freezer aisle at the grocery store and your baby sees the whole row of FREEZER HANDLES which happen to be his most favorite thing ever at the moment, so you stop the shopping cart at every handle for him to open and close at least once. Not really my idea of a great time, but the look of PURE JOY on Cole's face every single time he opened one of those doors was worth it.
Just like the look of pure joy on his face when he's holding my panties and pelting rolled-up socks at the dogs all over my bedroom is worth the clean up later. As will the photos to show any future girlfriends.
Oh man, I hear you on this one! Mason has figured out how to get the baby lock off of his cupboard in his bedroom and dragging diapers and rags around the house is his favorite thing EVER, as well as dragging out every single sheet and towel he finds.
ReplyDeleteIs that book the creepy one with the mother who peers through the adult son's window? LOL