“You are beautiful and lovely, O daughter of Jerusalem, terrible as an army arrayed for battle.”
Christ ascended into heaven and prepared an everlasting dwelling place for his most chaste mother: this is the sublime festival, surpassing that of any saint, on which she who is glorious and blessed entered the heavenly nuptial hall, acclaimed by the ranks of the heavenly court. There she dwells, ever loving, never forgetful of those who remember her.
Oh. My. Word.
You have my heartfelt sympathies.
My no-longer-little son, Eli (current age: 23) did the Exact.Same.Thing!! To this day I have No.Idea. how on earth he got the lid of the paint can open! It was the most horrifying mess. He was (and is) very clever at manipulating any sort of tool—and turning things that weren’t tools, into tools; very smart, and an early reader, very social etc. And he was also a real Houdini in terms of opeing things, figuring out complex puzzles/puzzle&lock; toys and so on.
He’s in college studying and training to be a police officer now, so I guess it’s all worked out okay!
Wishing you all the best! {{hugs}}
Ellie, The exact same thing! I don’t feel so bad knowing that Anthony isn’t the only one. It does sound very much like the two of them are kindred spirits! You give me much hope that we will somehow survive Anthony.
He does have his charming moments which totally balance out the maddening ones, though. Anthony got the very last pancake this afternoon and everyone else started to complain: “I want a pancake too!” So at first Bella just whined and whinged. I told her that if she asked nicely Anthony might share. Sure enough, as soon as she said please the generous little fellow handed her his whole pancake so she could take a bite. Then Sophie and Ben both expressed their desire for more pancakes and again he handed each of them his pancake so they could each take a bite. He might be destructive in his inquisitiveness; but he is such a sweet, thoughtful guy. he runs to get Ben’s blankies when Ben is crying. And gives the sweetest, best hugs and cuddles.
He just really, really wants to understand how the world works and has no idea of what kind of destruction he wreaks.
Do you have one of those toys that has all sorts of locks on it? They’re usually made of wood and brass, sometimes there are little boxes behind the locks … A toy like that might not keep him occupyed for very long at any one moment, but might really intrigue him too … It *will* get easier as he gets older and can engage in the world with his own little tools: a spade for his own corner of the garden, perhaps; a little snow shovel; being physicaly able to help you cook (wash veggies, stir on the stove with supervision etc) … Anything where he can truly be a part of the *work* being done—especially things that involve tools or machines and doing the activites that he perceives as real and important: things you and his father are doing: laundry, vacuuming, washing the car etc. The key with these bright little fellows (or one of the keys anyway!) seems to be to keep them actively engaged with you, doing meaningful work. Easier said than done, at times, of course!
Oh dear! I suppose it is of no consolation at all at this time to think that this will make a great “do you remember story” in a few year’s time. He sounds like a very lovable but mischievious little boy.
We don’t have one. But I’m going to put it on Anthony’s wish list. Sounds like a great Christmas gift idea.
I do find that one way I can usually get him engaged is to put big tubs of water on the table in the back yard and let him splash and pour. He does enjoy playing with the vacuum and helping to clean. He also loves pulling everything off of the shelves and upending bins of clothes and toys and tossing things all around. Sometimes I can get him engaged in clean up but other times he gets this mischievous gleam in his eyes and sets his jaw just so and refuses to be helpful at all. I can definitely see how it will be easier as he gets older and learns a bit more discretion and also is more physically able.
Never mind baby-proofing your house, you should Anthony-proof it! My goodness. I can’t even imagine! I would have burst into tears.
Oh my.
I feel like my comment should be longer, but…yeah, seeing that huge puddle of paint does kind of render one speechless.
Sharon, I think Anthony’s do you remembers are going to make an epic novel some day. (Part of me fully expects he’ll grow up to be a priest and what fun it will be to trot them all out.)
Mary, Somehow crying never seemed an option. I was more in the cursing like a sailor mode. We are already laughing about it now, though. Except when I go into his room and spy the big blue patch in the carpet—then I groan.
My dad came back from his weekend conference and said he was almost afraid to return after seeing the pictures of the mess we posted to Facebook. But he went and bought a new can of paint today and the room is now a lovely shade of blue.
There’s just that carpet… sigh.
Wow. How do they do that? When Mena was Anthony’s age she figured out how to undo all the childproof locks. We still have no idea how she managed, with her tiny hands, to get into the forbidden cupboards. I comfort myself thinking that the level of intelligence and curiosity will be a Very Good Thing one of these days, and the basic goodness and sweetness of temperament will help tame some of the more destructive tendencies. Otherwise, it’s pretty clear they’ll grow up to take over the world using their powers for evil and not good.
Reminds me of a similar incident, with my son, but with Maple Syrup instead. Maryann
My clearest (nightmare) memory of my oldest son’s toddler years: leaving him in the living room for a moment to go to the kitchen, and hearing a strange sound. Returning to find him standing on the play table, wooden mallet in hand, broken THIRD STORY window right next to him.
We put up baby gates on the windows at that point.
My younger daughter was the one who got into everything, though. She thought safety plugs for outlets were fun to remove, so we had to remove them all (the actual outlets were boring). She put a cassette tape in the toaster, toasted it…
They both survived to adulthood. And I have survived to their adulthood. You will, too!
Oh, Melanie! :0
Maybe some creative rearranging? Though it looks like there’s a closet door that might prevent that.
You have my sympathies. He’s obviously so smart and curious, but I completely understand wanting to go into cursing-like-a-sailor mode!