The Joys of Parenthood

This morning I had to, I mean had to take a shower, so I locked the car door and the door leading out to the garage so Christopher could not escape like he did last time. (After my shower it was a little too quiet and Christopher had opened the car, found the garage door opener, and let himself and the two dogs out to roam the neighborhood.)  I noticed from the shower that Christopher was running around with a box of crackers which meant he pulled a barstool over to the counter so he could climb up and reach into the top shelf to find these particular crackers, but oh well, at least he wasn't running wild outside.  By the time I am out of my shower Christopher has dumped the cracker box on my bed and is sharing them with Bono, (the dog).

Just a couple of minutes ago I thought Christopher was chasing the dogs around out back but then to my surprise, he comes running into the office with now an empty box of Cream of Wheat!  EMPTY, it was not that way earlier, I prepare myself for the worst and walk down the hall and see evidence that he has been there and then I turn the corner to the kitchen where he has now made his way and is playing in the cream of wheat like it's a sandbox.  This stuff is everywhere, on the counter, in every grove of the flooring, on toys, and now all over me as I am wrestling with Christopher, because someone just earned themselves an early nap time!

This happens all the time, it may not be Cream of Wheat, that was a first, but the other day it was granola he was throwing around the room while jumping on the bed feeding the dogs, or the bag of pretzels that I am still finding traces of four months later, really I am, I just cleaned some up from in between my sofa cushions, to dog food, or comet sprinkled all over the kitchen floor!  The list can go on and it does.  Just the other day Christopher was playing in the car, he LOVES playing in there I have no idea why, but he insists poor Bono has to stay in the car with him so, I gave in and would just go and check on him every couple of minutes, because that is just what you have to do with Christopher, and I noticed he had grabbed a couple water bottles and was lining them up on our dashboard and having a grand time.  Well, that should have been my first clue to intervene, but I left him and checked on him again to see no more bottles lined up on the dash.  Hmmmm, I go over to the car and open the doors and Christopher seems awfully wet, and then I see it, the water that is now dripping out of the car and onto my feet and a wet dog.  I called Bryan out and he counted 8 full water bottles had now been emptied in the car.  We sent Christopher inside so we could clean up and I went to go check on him, because, that's just what you have to do with Christopher, and he is now dancing to music in our room shaking the bottle he must have escaped with all over our bed and carpet!

I am not a neglectful parent, I am blaming this all on Christopher, he is fast!  When it is too quiet, I am in trouble, when he is laughing, I am in trouble, and it just takes a second.

*I wanted to document some of this so one day when Christopher and his wife come to me worn out and stressed out I can pull out the list so they can see just some of the joys of parenthood.