This is how we do it

More adventures in Beckham's world

OK, enough is enough! I am resulting to thisNo, that won't do, he can still run around, let's add this

Yeah, that might work.

****************WARNING****************

This story may not be suited for a weak stomach

So I am upstairs doing laundry when I hear Madison scream- MOM! Beckham broke a lightbulb! I run into Madison's room, and see broken glass all over the floor and Beckham standing in the doorway with the end of a lightbulb in his hand. I immediately grab the broken bulb and scour his body for any cuts. Then, I have Madison try and occupy her brother while I pick up shards of glass and vacuum. Meanwhile, Beckham has wandered back into the room and I notice that Madison's bed has blood all over the sheets. Not seeing blood on Beckham, I think maybe Madison had a bloody nose at night (happens all the time.) So, I start to clean up mess #2 which seems to be never ending because I keep seeing blood on toys, the carpet, walls etc... So, another check of Beckham, sure enough, he had cut his finger and it was dripping everywhere. I strip him down to his diaper, which I notice smells a little funky- but hey, one mess at a time. So I go to get a bandaid and by the time I made the walk from Madison's room to my room and back, Beckham had taken his dirty diaper off and decided to have a little finger painting session! AHHHH!!!! This is the ONLY thing that I can't handle. Learn to crawl out of the crib, open baby locks, climb on furniture, but please, whatever you do, DO NOT learn to take off you diaper!!! I told my friend a few weeks ago (after he figured out how to crawl out of the crib)- "At least he hasn't taken off his diaper! I feel so bad for moms who have to deal with that, what would you do?" Yeah, those were my exact words! I am that mom! I feel sorry for ME!

So anyway, I take him straight to the tub and ask Madison to watch him while I try and clean up the new mess. Somewhere in here I managed to get a giant bandaid on his tiny finger. Not sure how it all happened, something involving tackling, wrestling, a little screaming, it's all a blur now. But it was on and he was finally getting cleaned up. Meanwhile, I was gagging while trying to clean up blood and poo smears, along with broken glass! I was freaking out a little, not knowing where he had gone with the bloody finger and poo paint. I was on my hands and knees, searching high and low, and putting my nose on everything in sight to smell if it needed more disinfecting. Luckily everything was either machine washable or very easy to wipe down. Poor Madison, she was on duty in the bathroom getting soaked by Beckham's crazy splashing. Oh yeah, and if your wondering how he got the lightbulb- well he has learned to open the child locks on the cabinets and drawers. He opened the cabinet under the laundry room sink, stuck his little finger in there and pushed that little lever down so he could gain full access. WHY ME? So I have this great house with all this space and I still can't find a place to put anything where my son can't get into it!

As I was typing this post, I was thinking about all the things I would have posted about if I had a blog when Madison was his age. So, I decided to go look in her scrap book, here are just a few things from her "I can do" list:

• Plays very good by herself
• uses many words and signs
• loves to carry her baby around and put her to bed
• does the hand motions to "if your happy and you know it" and "popcorn popping"
• loves to watch Elmo
• Will say "peas" if she want's something and then "tank you"
• loves to repeat patterns of clapping or patting her lap
• loves to color
• plays in her crib, singing and talking after waking up

Here are a few of Beckham's

• loves to run, jump, and climb
• uses the couches as launching pads
• learned to climb out of his crib
• can open doors now that he is tall enough
• learned to unlock the deadbolts by pushing chairs up to the doors
• can open child safety locks on cabinets and drawrs
• screams louder than anyone I know
• will sit in time out for 1 min. without having to hold him there
• can jump and do a somersault
• loves to pretend he is a dog by crawling on the floor and barking
• Still, to this day, protests when putting him in his carseat!

What a difference! Yeah, that's right, sitting in time out without having to strap him down is a huge milestone for this kid! I do love him despite his monkey tendencies. He is a super happy boy, rarely do you see him with a frown on his face. Even when in demolition mode, he does it all with a smile. I just can't get too mad because it is all so innocent and the result of one very smart and curious little boy.