Raising Hoodlums!

Um, yeah, that sounds a little harsh doesn't it? Well, unfortunately, it's the truth! We are raising hoodlums!!! Why do I say that? Well, let's see. Most of you know many of our "Matthew stories," so I guess it should come as NO surprise that Jacob is very quickly assuming the character traits of his big brother. It started out gradually, and at first, it was actually kind of cute. But recently, it has become out of control! What's that- you really want to know what they've been up to?! Ok, I'll share ;-)

We keep a piece of carpet on the step in the garage that leads into the house. The other day, the carpet was missing. I kept asking everyone if they had seen the rather large piece of carpet, finally assuming that Zack had thrown it away. So, the next morning, I loaded up the kids in the car to go run errands, and as I was backing out of the garage, I finally discovered what happened to my missing carpet-- it was on the HOOD of my car! LOVELY. What, that's not so bad you say? Well, it gets better. Yesterday, I needed to take Emily into school, so I got the boys in the car and headed out of the driveway. I drove down the street, waving at the neighbors as I passed them by, not noticing the hitchhikers on the hood of my car! It wasn't until I got to the end of the neighborhood and was ready to turn out onto the main road that I finally saw something on my car that didn't belong........ My little hoodlums managed to get these two rackets up on the top of the car- whether they threw them or actually climbed up on the car themselves, I'd rather NOT know! OK, I know what you're thinking- how on earth are these kids doing this? Doesn't their mother watch them? Are they completely unsupervised?! Well, my problem started several months ago, when Matthew figured out how to break the child locks off the doors and get out of the house. At first, just Matthew would go out, but it didn't take long before Jacob would notice the door that Matthew so kindly left open and would follow right behind. That wasn't too bad- I still had SOME control. It was when Jacob figured out how to break the lock off the door that the problems really began. Yep, Jacob, my 20 month-old, can get out of any door now. And no, the deadbolt and door knob locks DON'T stop him. You see, right after he learned how to break the cover off the knob AND twist the handle, he learned how to turn BOTH of the locks!!! And when he can't get the door open because he's not sure which lock is still locked, he simply fiddles with them until he's successful, and out he goes. What about installing chain locks up on the tops of the doors, you ask? Well, I assure you, it would only be a matter of time before Mr. Matthew figured out how to drag a stool over to the door and undo the lock. Yep, cuz that's what HOODLUMS do!!!

The ability to open the doors has caused all sorts of problems. The boys frequently visit the neighbors- without my knowledge. They let the dog out- when I don't want him out. They take things outside- that I don't want out. They bring things in- that I don't want in. Well, you see the pattern.

But, believe me, that's only the beginning of their reign of terror. Here's an example of what they did yesterday to our office......

Well, I guess any of you with kids has probably seen something very similar in your own house. The thing is, I find messes like this every 10 minutes- as I stop to clean up one mess, the boys race ahead to another part of the house and get busy destroying something else! One of Jacob's personal favorite things to destroy is Zack's cell phone. Jacob is responsible for breaking off two of Zack's chargers in his Blackberry- no matter where Zack keeps it. And Allie's Ipod is currently missing (has been for a couple of weeks)- we simply can't imagine where it might be! Possibly floating in a sewer somewhere because the boys flushed it down the toilet?! Maybe......!

Well, one thing's for sure- they may PLAY hard, but they also SLEEP hard- and that, my friends, is MY saving grace!