Terrible {& Humorous} Twos

Our little James is getting to be not-so-little-anymore. He's only about 20 months, but {like most things} he is ahead of schedule, and he is most definitely in his "terrible twos" already. He is absolutely curious and most definitely mischievous! He has a wonderful sense of humor, and as a result does all sorts of naughty things with one goal in mind: Make. Momma. Laugh. Unfortunately, I throw out mixed signals, because I often DO laugh. It's so hard not to. He's funny! So yeah, our little guy gets into lots of trouble... with or without consequences. For example...

Here James was bathing {in case you couldn't tell} and pulled this little organizer box thing off the back of the toilet... and into the tub. Did he look guilty when I raised my eyebrows and said, "James!" Heck no! He looked amused. Darn kid. :)

Here isn't really anything naughty, just funny. He was supposed to be getting dressed {for bed, if I remember correctly}, and he played on our bed instead. Then he tried to get down via the box of need-to-be-stored baby toys, and got "suck." It was really funny to hear his strained voice calling, "Suck! Momma! Suck!" Ha. We of course let him suffer and took a picture of his predicament instead of saving him. Haha.

"Suuuuck!" lol. {Really, it was so funny.}
Here James found a roll of toilet paper and... well... you see. It would have been the entire roll had I not stopped him. I'm not that cool of a mom. Finger painting and Play Doh may or may not be a possibility in our future. I'm not much of a fan of messes.And finally, James has recently figured out how to open doors. This is cute and all {not really}, but it has resulted in lots of tension in the Anderson household. i.e... He can open his bedroom door, thus negating any effect of "time out." {He is not quite old enough to understand "stay," so we put him in his room to cool off and distance ourselves-- often times, Mom needs a time out, too. But when he would open the door and come running out... well, there was a lot of yelling.} He also kept trying to open the front door -- which if he got out would lead to his DEATH! We totally live like in a driveway... so there isn't even a lawn to give a time buffer between escape and utter destruction.

SO! I tried to buy those ugly, hard-to-use door knob covers at Walmart. None were in, and wouldn't be for a while still. We didn't have time to shop elsewhere that night, and we seriously were desperate for a solution. {Yelling doesn't work and makes me feel like a lunatic, out-of-control, horrible mother. I'm generally against spanking-- especially with my temper, when spanking would ultimately be just beating, and James doesn't respond to that sort of thing anyway.} We were ALL at our wits' ends. Then I thought of a solution. And I must say, I'm mighty proud of myself. :)

I sewed a simple little doorknob cover. Easy-cheesy. No machine required... just hand-stitched fabric. It matches our living room (and now kitchen, pantry and James' bedroom-- I made more and more and more) and isn't quite as gaudy or difficult to use as those plastic white ones. And it was pretty much free, since I just used fabric scraps I had laying around anyway. I know. I'm awesome. :)

So with the fabric doorknob covers {along with a Parental Strategy 101 discussion between Derek and I}, peace has again been restored to the home of the Anderson Trio. For now. :)