A Tale of Jerry-rigging

I have always thought that my Dad is the King of jerry-rigging. You know......being able to fix anything by means of ingenuity. Cutting cords apart to cut and paste (if you will) them onto other needy devices. And so on.

So, I feel I have gleaned some of his ability.

And with small children I have to be VERY resourceful. Especially when those children's names begin with vowels.

From a very young age, *E* was the epitome of busy-body. Whether it be layering her bedroom in a blanket of baby powder to the extent of it looking like it had recently snowed indoors, to her dumping a whole container of green food coloring into the 20-gallon fish tank. And I bet I have written about her escapades before, but I do it again to make a valid point. The twins are JUST LIKE their older sisters.

So.....

day in and day out, their diapers are duct-taped onto their cute little baby buns, otherwise the diapers are found in various parts of the house.

At the age of 18 months, *O* figured out how to undo the clasp on her car seat. So the clasps got turned backward. And now that each twin pulls the clasp all the way down to the buckles, I am having to come up with a new idea. So safety pins will be placed under the clasp, so their itty-bitty bodies don't go flying out of the car seats via a huge opening due to there being no front clasp.

But it is so cute watching them try to figure something out. Last night, *O* was pushing her stroller around and had *I*'s snuggly. She needed to be able to push the stroller so I watched as she carefully tried to find a suitable way to hold the snuggly without her hands. She threw it over her shoulder. Nope; no good. So a few seconds later she tucked it under her arm. Nope. Then it went under her chin as she tried to hold it against her chest. Not that way either. It then went in her mouth as she held it with her teeth. No good. Last try. She stuffed it into her shirt and went on her way with her stroller. This all took place as if no one was watching her. I marvel at what goes on in such a small mind.

*O* has mastered the art of climbing on my bed, so I can no longer use it as a storage area for things I don't want them to reach.

And the latest form of motherly torture----figuring out how to turn the child-proof door knob covers. You know, the ones with the little rubber tabs that you grip and use to turn the knob.

Child-proof, my eye.

They aren't even toddler-proof in my house. So I broke the tabs out and put them back on the knobs.

And let's not forget the fact that they can climb in and out of the bathtub, turn on my washing machine, open the sliding glass door, open ceral boxes and cake mix boxes and any other box I put in the shopping cart. The boxes that are inevitably put in the cart where one baby sits because grocery stores assume that families only have ONE TODDLER AT A TIME!!!

I've said it before and I say it now. Mothers need to be the ones responsible for designing anything that has to do with children. Strollers are at the top of my list.