Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Hurricane Benjamin

My house may never be clean again.

I've mentioned my darling little snuggly-bear baby before, right? My darling little poopsy-woopsoms lovey ducky? Well, that beautiful baby is testing me to the absolute limits right now.

I adore this child with every fiber of my being, as I do all my children. He's got these twinkly brown eyes that look up at you full of mirth, and you just have to scoop him up and hug him. He's perfect in every way.

Except one.

He's a hurricane.

He spends all of his time going from one end of the house to the other, destroying everything in his path. I know my other children have done similar things, but this one seems to have gotten a double-dose. While I'm cleaning up one of his messes in the kitchen, he's in the bathroom, and then we trade places. All attempts to distract him are met with wild laughter as he streams past me, toilet paper clutched in his darling little fists, an ominous gurgle coming from the toilet. The day he outgrew his playpen was one of the saddest days of my life.

This last month alone, I've had basalmic vinegar poured on the carpet, honey dribbled all over the table (and the chairs), brown sugar ground into the carpet (there will be new carpet eventually) markers of all colors on all the walls, and four more ruined library books. That's right -- more library books. I just know we're going to amass more than $400 in damages there this year alone. We're already in the early $300's.

Right now, a half bag of animal crackers lies in the hallway, crushed into the carpet. More said crackers are all over the side table. His toothbrush is on the floor in front of the TV. He wouldn't go to sleep until two and a half hours after his bedtime, all of which was spent with me putting him back down. Putting him back down. Putting him back down.

I can't unload the dishwasher because he's climbing into it. I can't load it because he pulls out the dirty dishes as soon as I put them in. (Now, if I could get him to take out the clean dishes, we'd be all set!) Every attempt at housework is scoffed at, with twinkling eyes.

Yes, I'm frustrated. I'm also totally smitten with this child and plan to spend as much time as possible kissing and squeezing him. And then scrubbing, and vacuuming, and wiping . . .

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Whoa, what energy! Is this child going to be dynamic when he grows up, or what? Sounds like he's one of those you just have to grin and bear--and pray you both make it until he's old enough to let loose on the world. :-)

Mutter to yourself, this too will pass, this too will pass.

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

Ha ha. It's so nice to know I'm not alone, even if mine is in the form of "artwork" all over the house & her body.

Anna said...

I can totally relate! Last night I tried to do some cleaning and organizing, but it didn't really work out very good. As I was cleaning one room, the kids were in destructive mode in the other.

I also have a ruined library book that I'm probably going to have to pay for. And it's not even one I want to keep. It's a potty training book. I mean, at least she could have ripped pages out of a good novel or something so I could buy something I'd want to keep.

Tristi Pinkston said...

A.Riley, sounds like she was expressing her opinion about the whole training process. :)

Marcia Mickelson said...

I have a two year old too, not quite a hurricane, but we've had a few library fines because of him. I'm also constantly picking up his messes. Just this morning, he pulled a big one. I usually strap him into a chair in front of Sesame Street in the mornings while I shower. Today, I didn't because I thought he's been a lot better lately. Well, when I came out of the shower, he'd thrown some of my clothes in the toilet and had flushed about 3 times. Gross! Back to the strapped in chair tomorrow.

Misty said...

I'll tell ya what!! I am right there with you with the messes. Olivia LIVES to create destruction EVERY where she passes!! Oh.My.Heck. Some days I can barely stand it!

Keeley said...

Hahaha! =D Just LOVE two year olds! So excited about life! Everything's so wonderful and they need to get REALLY into it and explore it and "what does this do?" and mess with it and play with it and pull on it and see if it makes that neat tearing sound. They're exhausting and SO much fun.

Terrible twos my eye!!! Terrific twos are more like it. =)

ali cross said...

Ahh Benjamin. He sounds ... delightful.

All I can say is "Amen" to everything you just said. My children might be the bane of my existence but they are also the lights that banish all darkness. Go figure.

Tristi Pinkston said...

Ali, he is delightful. He is the sun and the moon and the stars to me.

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

Oh my I feel your pain... I know you stopped by my blog and have seen some of the fun 2 three yr old can have!

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