Toddler Impulse

Ian is a toddler and I know that toddlers sometimes have impulses they cannot control, but I think I'm going to have some uncontrollable impulses if his destructive behavior continues!

Without a doubt, Ian is THE most challenging child I have ever come across. He is BUSY, to put it nicely. This afternoon in a matter of minutes he was able to colour on Kyle's highchair with a red crayon, destroy my chapstick, and dump salt all over the salad I had prepared for dinner.

He had a crayon because he had promised me he would only colour on his paper. A little background: colouring on things other than paper has been a major issue for Ian. He's managed to colour on walls, tables, his body, the highchair, my shoes, and multiple books. We've always dealt with his destructive colouring in the past by taking away the crayons for a period of time. Then when crayons are reintroduced we'll review the rules (which he clearly knows and will tell us without us having to say them first). Ultimately he ends up colouring on something within minutes of having his sneaky little hands back on the crayons - or whatever it is he's using. We've tried Aquadoodle even and all he does is open the pen, pour out all the water and then play in it. Even pencil crayons are used to colour books and walls. I'm at my wit's end. I think he's grounded from anything-plus-paper for a very, very long time. Like, until he's 30 I'm thinking.

The chapstick was inside my purse, in an interior zipper pocket which was zipped closed; my purse was zipped closed and sitting on the hall table. It's always been the same rule: don't touch anything on the hall table. Usually there's keys there, my purse and sometimes something that needs to be returned or exchanged plus its receipt. The hall table is off limits. Ian was reading books - or so I thought. When I returned from putting away laundry he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, his finger knuckle-deep into my chapstick tube and his face was covered with shiny, strawberry scented grease. Along with his whole hand, most of his chin and neck, and all over his new shirt.

The salt was partly my fault but again, I think his impulses just take over and he can't stop himself. Ian was sitting on the counter helping me make dinner - my first mistake. I was cutting vegetables and preparing items for our salad and Ian was placing them in the pot or the bowl - wherever they belonged - my second mistake. I use a dish - my third mistake - of Kosher salt and use my fingers to sprinkle it on our food instead of regular iodized salt in a shaker (the reason is for a whole other post) and Ian took the dish of salt and, in a split second, dumped the whole container of salt on the salad. I shouted and asked him what he was doing. He answered that he was putting some salt on the salad. Like, duh, I guess.

So that's my day in a nutshell. Same as all the other days. I spend it tidying and cleaning up and Ian follows behind me dumping and drawing and, well, being a toddler I suppose. It's going to take years off my life, I just know it!