Little Monkey

Over the last couple weeks, Brinleigh has figured out how to climb onto the coffee table and it has quickly become her favorite place to sit.  She can open the front door which has a pull handle and does not lock on the inside of the house, meaning even if the door is locked on the outside, you can still open the door from the inside.  She can climb onto the dining room chairs and table, which are the tall bar style high top chairs and table.  And, she is on the verge of being able to climb out of her crib.

On a daily basis, any time I need her to come to me, she will run in the opposite direction and try to hide, unless it involves food.  When I lay her down to change her diaper, she immediately flips herself over onto her tummy and tucks her arms in under her.  She hates wearing socks and will take them off in different areas of the house, unless she has shoes on.  This isn't usually a pain in my ass unless I had just put them on her only to find out that in the time it took me to go get her shoes, she ripped them off again and then hid them under the coffee table.  She also doesn't like wearing pants and will take them off when she's in her crib or watching tv.  Actually, I'm pretty sure she just wants to be naked and I'm certain that if she knew how to take off her shirt, she would probably be running around the house wearing only a diaper.  She insists on walking anywhere that we normally try to carry her and refuses to hold our hands.  She finally figured out how to open the drawer on the coffee table and would sit in front of it while watching tv just opening and closing it, over and over and over again.  When she is done eating she will dump her entire plate over and then pick up handfuls of food to throw onto the floor.  If she ate all her food, then she will just start throwing her dishes on the floor.  And, now that she can reach the counter tops she will open all the top drawers, which we didn't have child locks on (notice the past tense), and pull everything out.  This includes the silverware drawer, junk drawer and sink drawer.  So, she has gotten a hold of the grill lighter, ran around with a hand full of her forks, and tried chewing on a Mr. Clean magic eraser sponge.

Some of these moments scare the shit out of me and cause an enormous amount of frustration.  If I had the time, I would probably break down in tears at the thoughts of all the ways she can get hurt or from repeating myself twenty million times only for her to still not listen to me.  She is definitely keeping me on my toes, to say the least.  But then there are the moments when she runs into my arms for a hug or gives me a kiss or tilts her head and smiles at me, and I realize......  She is healthy, smart, safe and loved and no matter how frustrated I get at times, the amount of joy she brings me far exceeds the stressful moments.  So, we are learning as we go, childproofing something new on a daily basis, and accepting that she is the first child so inevitably, mistakes will be made.  Sorry Boo Boo, you're the guinea pig child.   

Although I am not a fan of what I believe is to be the start of the "terrible two's", I am trying to remain calm and learn how to work through this stage.  I'm picking my battles and laughing as much as I can.  After all, it's gotta be just as frustrating for her not being able to communicate her wants and needs with me.  Surprisingly, I have not resorted to drinking at night after I put her to bed, although I do think about the option quite often.  However, when I'm really busy, I do sometimes leave her on the coffee table even when she whines to get down, just because I know she can't go anywhere.  (Only for a few minutes, of course.)