Little Rascals

Over the years I have taken pictures of the kids doing various, well, interesting and messy things . . . sitting in a pile of flour on the floor, rubbing lipstick all over their faces, tearing into a fully iced cake, LOL!! (I need to dig up those pictures somewhere). They all got into 'trouble' but for some reason Arah and Ever have been the biggest hand fulls. They go through this stage, usually from the time they can walk or climb to they are 3-4, where they are into EVERYTHING!! I am not even going to mention the roof story for fear that CPS may end up knocking at my door, LOL!! (and for those who know the roof story, it happened again a couple times, once just the other day).

I often wonder if they get into more 'trouble' because I am busy with other kids and they are more independent and don't care to wait for me to get them things. I mean that is how Arah learned to wipe his bum, he got tired of always waiting for me to come wipe him, LOL!! (which reminds me that Ever has been trying to wipe himself lately . . . he is 2 1/2, I don't think so!!) And once they realize that they can push a chair to the cabinet and get food . . . well then there is NO stopping them, LOL!!

Arah has grown out of most of it (he is almost 5, though he still likes to write all over himself) but now Ever is proving to be just as much of a little rascal as Arah was, and ya, it started when he could walk. It isn't uncommon to have a box of cereal dumped out on the floor (and stomped in) chocolate syrup (left over from making 'Duggar' cake) poured on the carpet, and wonderful marker artwork all over the walls (or sharpie on the sofa, that was last month) and that is all in one day!!! OF COURSE I stop them and tell them that we do NOT do that (and sometimes I get really frustrated and loose it, usually if I am overly tired and it is the 5th mess of the day) but I usually handle it well. I don't blame them. They are just being kids! I blame myself for not locking the cabinets, not putting the syrup on a higher shelf and for leaving the markers out where little hands can find them. I know that, like the others, they will learn self control as they mature and then they will no longer do these things because they know it is not right. But for now, though it is a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun to see their personalities, how creative they can get, and how much trouble they can get into, all on their own!!

That said, today Ever was trying to wipe himself again so I went into the bathroom to stop him and take care of it. Afterwards I had him wash his hands. He also wanted to wash his bunny cracker (don't ask, I have no clue) so I put some soap on it and left him. A few minutes later the water was still running, which is not uncommon, he and Arah love to play in the sink (and stop it up with toilet paper as they make creations, or Arah likes to make giant wet toilet paper balls). I SHOULD have gone in there to check on him but I was trying to clean the kitchen and make lunch. So I sent Xian in and I heard him yell. This is what he saw . . .


You'll have to excuse the messy bathroom (our only full bath, I can't keep it clean to save my life). What you can't see in the picture is the water was running, and overflowing and covering the floor, in the drawers, cabinets etc. I tried to hold back my laugh and was thinking . . . it could be worse, I mean water is clean and easy to get up with a few towels (a lot easier than Sharpie on the sofa). Ever acted embarassed because we were making a big deal about it. I guess the warm water seemed really inviting and he thought he should just jump on in, LOL!! Ah, gotta love them!!!