art with children / babyhood / home / life on thomas run / MOTHERHOOD

Beware the sound of silence

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Birdy is whole heartedly at the age where silence in my house means something very mischievous must be happening somewhere. 

It's no longer innocent either. 

And it usually involves markers.

You'd think I'd learn by now to keep the markers out of reach. And actually, I'm pretty sure I've made some rule about keeping markers in the metal can and keeping the can on top of the bookshelves in the school room. 

But when everyone else in the house is up to their elbows in daily art projects and sign-making for bedroom doors, and charts, and secret club sign-up sheets, it's hard to remember to always put the markers away. I guess. 

I've learned that the first place to check for her is under tables. If they're covered in a tablecloth, even more secretive and ideal.There will generally be a small collection of toys that don't belong to her. And a marker. Coloring her cheeks used to be her thing. Now, she colors her cheeks and lips, but quickly moves on to decorating the toys, too. 

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She has also decorated the sofa arm. And inside the towel cupboard in the bathroom. And of course the walls. I've come to expect the wall-decorating. 

She highlighted the bookshelf in the living room. As well as running that same highlighter along the binding of each of Dan's books on the top shelf. How kind of her. We appreciate her hard highlighting work, we do. 

Two nights ago, after her bath, she discovered the joys climbing into the dryer. To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken her this long to make the discovery. She's a child who likes a "house" to engage in all her mischievous work. It used to a cupboard in the bathroom. My clue would be the towels all over the bathroom floor. And the closed cubpoard doors. And the silence. 

Photo (1)
But two nights ago when she realized she could very easily climb into the dryer, and it fit several stuffed animals, and it echoed when you squealed inside? She was sold. 

When I hung up after a phone call yesterday and realized the house was silent, I began the (slightly panicked) search for Birdy. She doesn't answer when I call for her (something we're working on). And Mary couldn't find her upstairs. I couldn't find her downstairs. Or outside. 

Eventually she was discovered in the dryer. 

These are probably things I shouldn't admit openly. Losing track of my toddler. Or the damage she does while unattended. But this Birdy is a firecracker. She moves to the beat of her own drum. Determined. Strong-willed. All those things. 

And as of six days ago, facing the world as a newly crowned two year old. Here we go.

cbb

 

Birdy is whole heartedly at the age where silence in my house means something very mischievous must be happening somewhere. 

 

It’s no longer innocent either. 

 

And it usually involves markers.

 

You’d think I’d learn by now to keep the markers out of reach. And actually, I’m pretty sure I’ve made some rule about keeping markers in the metal can and keeping the can on top of the bookshelves in the school room. 

 

But when everyone else in the house is up to their elbows in daily art projects and sign-making for bedroom doors, and charts, and secret club sign-up sheets, it’s hard to remember to always put the markers away. I guess. 

 

I’ve learned that the first place to check for her is under tables. If they’re covered in a tablecloth, even more secretive and ideal. There will generally be a small collection of toys, including some realistic mermaid tails, that do not belong to her. And a marker. Coloring her cheeks used to be her thing. Now, she colors her cheeks and lips, but quickly moves on to decorating the toys, too. 

 

cbb

 

She has also decorated the sofa arm. And inside the towel cupboard in the bathroom. And of course the walls. I’ve come to expect the wall-decorating. 

 

She highlighted the bookshelf in the living room. As well as running that same highlighter along the binding of each of Dan’s books on the top shelf. How kind of her. We appreciate her hard highlighting work, we do. 

 

Two nights ago, after her bath, she discovered the joys climbing into the dryer. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to make the discovery. She’s a child who likes a “house” to engage in all her mischievous work. It used to a cupboard in the bathroom. My clue would be the towels all over the bathroom floor. And the closed cubpoard doors. And the silence. 

 

Photo (1)
But two nights ago when she realized she could very easily climb into the dryer, and it fit several stuffed animals, and it echoed when you squealed inside? She was sold. 

 

When I hung up after a phone call yesterday and realized the house was silent, I began the (slightly panicked) search for Birdy. She doesn’t answer when I call for her (something we’re working on). And Mary couldn’t find her upstairs. I couldn’t find her downstairs. Or outside. 

 

Eventually she was discovered in the dryer. 

 

These are probably things I shouldn’t admit openly. Losing track of my toddler. Or the damage she does while unattended. But this Birdy is a firecracker. She moves to the beat of her own drum. Determined. Strong-willed. All those things. 

 

And as of six days ago, facing the world as a newly crowned two year old. Here we go.

17 comments on “Beware the sound of silence”

  1. !!!! oh. my. what a girl!!! i remember the silence. it always worried me – but compared to your girl, i needn’t have worried quite so much!

  2. I made call-and-answer with my girls a game. I would call Marco, they’d answer Polo. The first to answer would get special time with me before bedtime,and its just become habit at this point. Make it a game she can win and she’ll always answer 🙂

  3. I too have a marker girl and more often than not they would be sharpies 🙂 she is also a hider and beware if there’s a sugary treat in the house she will find it and eat it!Happy birthday!!

  4. That’s a cute idea! My other girls were so good about saying “what?” when I called for them ,even when they were really little. Birdy’s on to my game. 🙂

  5. I think she sounds adorable! I don’t think I’d stop laughing for days if I found my 2 year old in the dryer! But I’ll admit that finding baby dolls covered in texta does make be fume a little… Ah, life with a 2 year old- it’s a rollercoaster, isn’t it?

  6. That was my baby when she was two, she’s almost seven now. Once she helped herself to a cup of chocolate pudding and ended up wearing more than eating. When I asked her what was all over her she replied, “it poopy mama” thank goodness it was not! Ummm, but yeah, we’ve cleaned the before mentioned up as well.

  7. My hubby and I would often stop mid conversation to realise 2 things: 1) we were having a conversation (uninterrupted by kids) and 2) it was silent. We would immediately jump up and search out the youngest child. Mostly up to mischief.

  8. Yup, it was my third who was like this. It didn’t take her long to figure out she never got to finish any of her ‘work’ unless it was not in plain view. The house still has her engravings on the bottom post of the stairs and various other places. And appropriately, she’s a graphic artist now, though unemployed. Lucky people who end up hiring her though. They will have no idea how experienced she is.

  9. Oy! The dryer is scary! I hope you can figure out a door system where she can’t close it. Kids! They’ll be the death of us all I think.

    Mine mostly just likes to EAT crayons right now. He’s just turned 1 and I spend more time pulling things out of his mouth than I care to admit. And getting his brothers to understand that they could help with this by putting things away? What AM I thinking?!?

    Magic Eraser is your friend I take it???

  10. Oh no! Please don’t stop sharing these little things, they make us all feel normal in a world that too often tries to make the idea of ‘normal’ a very narrow thing. It makes me kinda wish I could fit in the dryer, too. Sounds like a cozy place to hang.

  11. Oh my. This reminds me of when my little guys were her age and would mark up the walls, as well. That’s when I discovered that baking soda and hairspray worked beautifully. But the silence, that always got my heart pumping.Having a two-year-old is tough work, but I love your attitude about her independence- your encouragement to march to a different drum. Looks like she’ll manage that perfectly.

  12. My Cricket will be 2 in a few weeks, and we just added a new brother into the mix. Silence is indeed a scary thing!

  13. We have always called our youngest of four (who just turned 21) the exclamation point at the end of our family. Sounds like you have one too.

    🙂

  14. Our youngest also got up to so much trouble when he was this age. Once when my mom was visiting we realized it was just a bit too quiet and we discovered him shut in the bathroom squeezing out 5 tubes of toothpaste! It was spread very carefully into all of the tile cracks and smoothed all over his arms and legs. Now that he is five, he talks non-stop and I am sometimes grateful for a quiet moment, but not too long…otherwise you never know what he might be up to!

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