Our Secret Agents

I was not pleased when I got hurriedly aroused from a deep and blissful sleep on Sunday.

At about 6:30, Megan quickly nudged me and said, "they shut the door." I didn't catch it the first time, or the second - when I thought she was talking about Hannah & Milo closing the door to their room, and I thought "who the heck cares, and why is that so important that it can't wait?" - or even the third time when I really got annoyed that she really cared this passionately about the "milestone" of these two going back to their room in the early morning.

By the fourth nudge though, I'd gathered enough cohesion that my brain understood the two mischievous beings were running their own secret, covert operation; and as any parent knows, a secret and covert operation by any 2 and 5 year-old is never good. They'd closed the door intentionally trying to block out any sounds coming from the playroom. (I want to clarify, they closed OUR door.)

As quick as my aged legs could carry (I am 33 after all), I darted to the playroom to discover my angels playing, happily. "Too easy," I thought.

Then I discovered the sticky and slick film, as the unmistakable stench of spray starch wafted into my nostrils. Panic set in...

"What are you doing?!" I queried. I looked around searching for the source. Standing there, in the center of the room, was my 2 year-old with the canister. My heart sunk. (His heart sank at the thought that his favorite child could be so naughty.... hehe.)

I rushed to his side to discover that he had emptied the once-full container. A brand new can sprayed over every surface of the room. My little devil sat there content, looking at me, mocking me, with his broad, goofy smile.

I rushed to two to their room until I could find an appropriate punishment. I figured the damage was done, therefore I would leave them in there until I had cleaned up the mess, played some Wii, and perhaps ate a little breakfast snack.

Megan and I cleaned up the room - did you know it's almost impossible to remove starch on the first clean up? (Actually, I did know this... because earlier in the week Jeff left a can of starch that he claimed to be empty in the garbage. Milo found the can, & heavily starched the kitchen floor proving that it was NOT empty.)

We then pulled Hannah out to discuss the situation. She informed us that Milo decided to climb up to the top shelf of the closet. After the mess was done, she tried to clean it up using paper. We advised her it was a mess that no 5 year-old could clean up, and that it was not alright to let Milo climb wherever he decided.

Unfortunately, she's learning the sad reality of being an older sibling: you need to look out for the younger ones, and act as the "responsible adult" sometimes. (We tried to drill into her head that she should run & get us or scream for us in these type of situations. I didn't go as far as telling her to tackle & restrain him.)

In this case, no harm was done, but what do you do? The phrase "keep out of the reach of children" is almost a misnomer when they're climbing to the top of the cupboards. (Seriously, we'll take some advice.... what do you do? There is only so much room on the top shelf of cupboards & that obviously doesn't stop my kids. What's more dangerous, the item itself or the scaling of the closet to get the item?)

I just have to think that this is the sick kind of karma our parents wished upon us as children. I have to believe that it's Megan's genes causing the miseries, because I can't ever remember being this bad. Then again, I do have a vague memory of flames, our house, dry grass, wind, fire engines, and two little 7 year-old twin boys watching their creation in amazement. (Hmm... my mom couldn't come up with any similar situations that I got into, but we've heard LOTS of stories of Jeff & his "covert operations"!)

Thanks for the "well wishes" mom and dad.