In and Out

Jesse is just at the age where he's really liking stacking things and putting toys inside other toys or containers of some kind. It's a fun development and I love watching it, but it does cause some issues.

The other day we couldn't find his pacifiers, we had looked everywhere and finally gave up. Then the next morning Eli put his shoes on and said, "There's something in my shoe." Turns out it was the two missing pacifiers.

Another day Noah lined up a bunch of hot wheels in a row and Jesse went behind him with a bucket and one by one put them all in a bucket. When he got them all in the bucket he dumped them out in a pile.

Often Jesse roams around while I'm helping the other boys get ready for bed or am reading to them since he doesn't last more than one story. He finds his way to the bathroom and if we forgot to close the toilet lid he's right to it. Usually he gets the toilet bowl brush and starts "cleaning." I told a friend of mine that and she said, "At least he knows what to do with it." True enough!

If we've remembered to close the toilet lid he entertains himself by throwing things into the bathtub. Which I never thought too much about until the other day when it was just the boys and I home on bathnight and I was trying to keep the boys on task with getting their clothes off, pj's ready, clothes picked out for the next day, etc. while I was filling the tub (their bathtub doesn't work quite right so we have to fill it with water from the sink by using a plastic ice cream tub-fancy, I know!) so basically I was trying to do too many things at one time. It happens now and again!

Jesse started out by throwing in the bath toys, so that was fine. Then he started throwing in the things we had taken out of the tub that he had thrown in the night before but not really put away: a stay shoe, an eraser, the "old" washcloths. I kept rescuing things and moving Jesse, all the while trying to herd the other boys towards the tub. Then Jesse pulled off one of his socks and threw it in-now he's getting creative.

The next thing I know he's thrown in Simon's "i-pod" and I scoop it out as quickly as I can hoping there isn't too much damage. It only plays Elmo songs, but the boys really enjoy it. I turned it off and set it up on Eli's dresser where Jesse couldn't get to it. Then I took Jesse to get him ready for bathtime and it was fine from there.

After the boys are in bed I always take Jesse downstairs to nurse him and put him to bed after he's done. This particular night I was heading back upstairs with a sleepy Jesse about an hour after the boys had gone to bed. As I was walking up the stairs I heard Eli and Noah still talking and the "i-pod" playing. Noah said, "I don't know why it's doing that, I already turned it off!"

I "shushed" them as I walked by and laid Jesse down. I headed back to their room to see what the ruckus was about. Apparently since the i-pod had gotten wet it was on the fritz and kept randomly turning on. Noah would try to turn it off but then it'd start up again. They thought it was pretty funny. I took the batteries so it could dry out, but the jury's still out on it.

That Jesse!