Park Days

Shortly after Steven was born, I was trying to nurse him and he wasn't cooperating. I had all the gates up and the doors to the outside were locked. It got very quiet so I got up and Rick and Todd were in the bathroom getting ready to take a bath. Rick loved baths and would often take several baths a day. I thought, I won't be much longer so it should be okay. Once the water turned off, I heard playing and then it got very quiet. Somehow, very quietly, Todd had gotten out of the bath, climbed the gate to the kitchen and took out of a box of margarine then quietly climbed back over the gate and back into the tub. You might ask what do two little boys do with four cubes of margarine in a bathtub? Well, let me tell you. Rick and Todd and the margarine are all in the tub. There was margarine on the walls, all over the bath toys, in their hair, all over their bodies, on the outside of the tub and on the floor. No space was spared. During my hard fought battle becoming the mother I wanted to be, I knew that if I didn't laugh I would cry and probably never stop. It was days like these where it was best to clean up what was critical, pack the kids in the car and head for a park.

Another park day started out once again when I was nursing. Rick and Todd wanted a snack, so they got themselves some popsicles. Then they got some more popsicles and pretty soon my kitchen floor was covered with melting popsicles. I couldn't face it. We packed up and left. I could come back later and tackle the mess.

Lighting Matches!

When Todd was two he had amazing small muscle control. I went into the storage room to find something and found about 20 lit, but burned out matches on the floor. I immediately talked to my children and told them in no uncertain terms that we did not play with matches. No one admitted, but I knew it had to be one of the older children. I double checked that the matches were all put away high and not in sight.

About a week after that the older boys were playing in the fenced backyard with Todd. After just a few minutes Jimmy came running in and told me the doghouse was on fire. Todd had found some more matches and had lit the hay on fire inside the doghouse.

About one more week after that, I was nursing Steven and Todd was playing in the bedroom right next to mine. Things seemed to be going well but then I smelled smoke. I thought I had to be imagining it but as the smell grew stronger I knew I needed to check. I put Steven down and went to investigate. Sure enough, Todd was in the next room with a mattress on fire! He was trying to put it out but wasn't very successful.

These episodes scared me because fire burns quickly. We got rid of any matches we had in the house and knew that we would just have to buy them as we needed them.

I have no doubt that there is a higher power watching out for this little boy and his family.

Todd Could Throw!

Todd could throw. And throw he did; anything he could get his hands on. He could throw hard, far and fast. He especially loved throwing eggs, but he wasn't against throwing knives, books and scissors. He loved CD's because he imagined them as a weapon. We did all in our power to keep things locked up; however, Todd still managed to get to anything he wanted badly enough. Todd managed to get a hold of a pair of scissors and he aimed it straight at Ricky! The scissors actually just barely missed his eye and hit the part between the nose bridge and the eye lid. We were very grateful. The entire family was very silly because if Todd had anything in his hands and started the throwing motion, we all went into protective mode and threw our hands up to cover our faces.