Noelle Unleashed

Noelle officially became a "handful" this month. It happened somewhere after her 15 month birthday and came crashing home to me yesterday.

Dwayne and I juggle his school and my work around taking care of Noelle. So that means I have to get ready for work while watching Noelle - by myself. It used to be that I could just put the gate up at the top of our stairs and let her mosey between the bedroom, the nursery and the bathroom while I got ready. Things would get strewn about and messy, but nothing I couldn't handle. Yesterday though, everything changed.

While I was trying to get my work clothes out, I found Noelle splashing her hand in the toilet and then sticking it in her mouth. Then I caught her rummaging through the trash. I was mortified. Okay, fine. No more bathroom I decided and closed the door.

From there she trotted into the bedroom and headed straight for the desk. I turned around just in time to find her shaking a container of thumb tacks onto the carpet. I nearly leapt out of my skin. How is it possible that there are these sorts of hazards in my bedroom?! I pulled her out of our bedroom and closed the door.

I decided the safest thing was just to put her in the nursery with the gate up at the door. She was madder than a hornet at being confined, but I knew if I was going to attempt a shower, that was the only way to keep her safe. By the time I stepped out of the shower, she had stopped screaming and sounded like she was playing happily.

I walked around the corner to see what she was doing. I found the nursery floor blanketed in wet wipes. She was chewing on one. Books had been pulled off the bookshelf. She held a bottle of lotion in one hand and was shaking it up and down. Before my eyes, she flipped the bottle open, shoved it in her mouth and started chugging lotion. I jumped over the gate and snatched it away from her.

There's a book that Noelle likes for me to read called, "I'll Love You Forever." In this book there's a page that reads, "The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and he flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, 'This kid is driving me crazy!'"

I wouldn't say Noelle "drives me crazy." I'd just say she "wears me out!"