Seek & Destroy

We had a particularly challenging night. Alice was up screaming at 4 this morning with what could only be a horrible nightmare. It took us forever to finally get her to wake up enough to stop thrashing around. It was scary and unsettling. This is also very much not the norm for our girl. I was texting my mommy friends who reassured me this happens. It sucks, but it happens. I sent the following picture to my friend to show her this morning's episode didn't seem to have any lasting affects....

She says "I love how you 'let' her destroy the house."

Yep.

You see, Alice is 100% committed to destroying the house. 

The Momma is 3% committed to fighting that battle. 

Okay, let's be honest - it's more like 2.75%. 

As soon as her teeny tiny tyrannical feet the floor - her goal is to seek and DESTROY!!! And destroy she does!

If I attempted to clean up after her all day, we wouldn't ever have any fun and I would be exhausted and cranky. As it sits now, I clean while she's getting her bath so the house is fresh to destroy all over again the next day.

She likes to have everything out where she can see it and she thinks moving one thing from one room to the other is good exercise. 

She knocks stuff off her shelves in her room.

She goes through the recycling.

We've relocated the recycling so now all she has to go through in the kitchen are the reusable grocery bags I always forget to use.

And it's okay!

My Beloved comes home and laughs. He will occasionally ask me silly questions like "why did you put your socks on the dog's bed?" "Really?! You think I did that?!" Boys.

I will straighten some if I know people are coming over and I will make sure where we walk is clear of things that could trip us, but other than that - I let her be. It's not worth it. She does not understand the "everybody clean up" song nor does she care to. She's a baby. And we spend our days playing and playing is messy! 

I love that she will play on her own, humming to herself, making messes. I love that she's figuring out how things work and what things can do. I LOVE IT. And it doesn't hurt anything. 

I don't allow her to get to anything that might hurt her and we do our best to keep her from destroying houses we visit. But at home - we make messes and read and laugh. 

I was given a pillow stand for Christmas from my mom. I had it in the living room reading my Nook while Alice ran a muck. I got up to do something and came back to this.

And it made me laugh! Because she's too smart for her own good. 

Today, we played a new game. I only gave her 6 puffs and I kept a close eye on her. She will still occasionally put things to her mouth. Usually she touches her mouth to it and stops. I like to tell myself she's remembering me tell her "not in the mouth" but that's probably just wishful thinking.

So if you stop by unannounced - don't be surprised to find a complete wreck. And we won't apologize! We're busy making memories. 

Until next time....