You will try to load the dishwasher, and your toddler will crawl inside it. Or you’ll turn away for 10 seconds, and they’ve proudly scribbled all over the couch with a purple marker. You put away their toys, and they grab your phone and chew on it. Their habits are completely unpredictable, and they will find any possible way to get their adorable little baby hands on any unsecured item.
This is all very normal for a baby’s development, but my goodness, it is a full-time job to watch them. Toddlers just don’t know the rules yet, nor do they care about them, anyway. They don’t know why Mom doesn’t want them to roll around in a mud puddle, or why Dad is wailing because they took all his vinyl records out of their sleeves.
One time when I was a toddler, I drew a picture, then used Elmer’s glue to paste it to the wall at toddler eye-level height. This was, as you can imagine, not a surprise that my parents appreciated. I couldn’t understand their shock. Why wouldn’t they want my drawing glued to the wall forever, since, after all, it was a very good drawing in my baby mind?
Paradoxically, this wild abandon of rules and regulations is exactly why hanging out with toddlers is so much fun… But, as this Dad learned the hard way, you really can’t take your eyes off them if you have anything valuable laying around.
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