Master of Destruction

This post is for all of my wonderful readers who enjoy my Kendall stories. She gave me a lot to write about today, but before I start on her I have to start with a few Bradley stories...

When Bradley was about 11 months old we gave him the name "Master of Destruction". It may have even started before then, but I will start there. When Bradley started crawling he somehow managed to get into everything. I didn't think it was possible to get into more things...until he started walking. He climbed on everything, pulled everything off of shelves, climbed the stairs, went over, under, and through baby gates. I used to joke that I was going to send him to P&G as a test baby, because baby proofing did not work with him. He actually figured out how to slide his hand into the lower cabinets and pop the lock open. We could not take out eyes off of him for a second. He took his diaper off on two different occasions and smeared its contents on the walls and carpet. My favorite was when he went up the stairs, into the laundry room, lifted an economy size bottle of blue laundry detergent, unscrewed the cap, and poured it all over our cream colored carpet. It was interesting to clean up because the more water we used the more bubbles we got! He kept us on our toes and there was no longer a moment of rest in the Brock house.

When Kendall came along she was so different. She was such a calm baby. She would lie back in her swing and just watch all of the things that were going on around her. I thought that she would be the complete opposite of Bradley. She was so cautious of the things that she did. She did not sit up until she was six months old, but the day she decided that she was going to sit up on her own she never fell. She did the same thing with walking. She walked along the couch for about a month and then the day that she took her first step she walked all over the house. She was a late talker, barley putting two words together at 23 months. However, the week before she turned two she started talking in complete sentences. Looking back at these things I should have known that she was a planner. It didn't take long for her to take over the name "Master of Destruction".

I have shared many Kendall stories, and most are quick and easy to write about. Today's story needs an entire blog. Our day started as any other day. We got up, had breakfast, Kendall snuck a few drinks of my coffee, pretended to use the bathroom so she could have a piece of candy, had diarrhea in her underwear, and then the real fun began. The kids were playing so well together that I decided to try and get a few things done. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen, and started a load of laundry. At this point I realized that too much time had passed since I saw the two rug rats, so I went to their room to check on them. Every blanket and pillow had been pulled off of their beds and thrown onto the floor, every book was off of the bookshelf, every toy was dumped from its basket, and all of the dress up clothes were out. After telling them to clean up multiple times I had them lie in their beds in complete silence for 40 minutes while I cleaned up. I decided that it was now time for us to take a drive around Harlan so that I could take some deep breaths and clear my head.

When we got home it was time for me to feed Jacob. I knew this was going to be trouble. It started with Bradley and Kendall sneaking off to the kitchen. Bradley has gotten much better at covering his tracks, however Kendall is still learning, so she came back with donut crumbs on her face and a donut behind her back. When I finished feeding I went to the kitchen, where I found a stool pushed over to the refrigerator and Kendall standing in the refrigerator drinking an open can of Sprite. I calmly got her down, closed the refrigerator, moved the stool, and walked out of the kitchen.

As I continued with the laundry Bradley and Kendall continued to play. I was sure that my death threats would be enough to keep there room clean, but I was wrong. I was not too surprised when Kendall came out of her room with no clothes on, as she often does. I went to her room to find her clothes and happened to step in something wet. Bradley was sure that she had peed on the floor, but with more observation it appeared that she had filled her pots and pans from her kitchen set with water. When I took one of the pans to the bathroom to pour the water in the sink I discovered that she had clogged the sink with toilet paper. I think that I laughed a little to myself. I could not imagine what else she could get into today.

After dinner I was cleaning up the kitchen when Kendall came walking in with paint on her hands, feet, shirt, and a little in her hair. After cleaning her up I dreadfully asked what she had painted. She led me to her room, where she had attempted to paint her white bookshelf pink. Luckily it has a very glossy finish so the paint wiped right off. With a few more dumpings of blankets and books, she is now sound asleep...or so I wish. I think I am going to have a beer and call it a night...until tomorrow!