The Baby Nickel is driving me bonkers. He is into everything. You doubt me? Think I’m exaggerating? I thought you might, so for an hour or two last evening, I took notes. Here we go:
*He squirted a blob of toothpaste out of our brand new tube. This happens a lot. Once we went through most of a tube in just two days (all the kids were culprits that time, I think). We even try to keep the toothpaste up high, but nothing deters The Baby Nickel.
*He chased Sweetsie with a cocked sippy cup.
*He unplugged the lamp, then quickly plugged it in when he heard me coming, and then he tried to stand on the head of the lamp cord, the part that sticks into the outlet.
*He made moves to open the woodstove door, but I got there in time.
*He made moves to pull a bucket of bleach water down off the counter in the bathroom, but, once again, I got there in time.
*He got up on the kitchen counter and crouched by the sink while he dumped concentrate dish detergent on his hands (I did not get there in time) and then washed them.
*He climbed up at the bathroom sink and stuck his head under the sink faucet to wet his hair so he could comb it. (Sorry about the blurry picture, but, like I said, he doesn’t hold still very well.)
*He hauled the bathroom footstool outside the house, down the concrete steps to the basement door, and locked the door, with him on the outside, in such a way that Yo-Yo Boy couldn’t unlock it and had to call me to come help. (This lock is just a metal latch, up high on the door, and we stick a metal hook through it to wedge it shut. The purpose of the lock is to keep The Baby Nickel out of the basement.) Then The Baby Nickel proceeded to unlock it himself and proudly show it to me.
Remember, this was over the course of only an hour or so. Do you now understand why I feel like I’m going crazy? All day long I’m running in circles, chasing the kid, cleaning up his messes. I have no place to put him where he will just be. I used to strap him into his little booster seat, but he can get out of it now. We have no crib for him (he would just climb out of it anyway). I called Mr. Handsome at work yesterday, at my wits’ end (I find I am there, at my wits’ end, a lot these days) to see if he could build a cage for The Baby Nickel. I wasn’t even really joking….
My Wise Girlfriend suggested sticking him in a car seat. I think we do have an extra one up in the attic or out in the barn. I might give it a shot.
