I know what you are thinking. You’re thinking that sweet little man could not possibly be a handful. No, really. If his mother says he is, she must be lying. That cutie is not capable of mischief. No, not that sweet guy.

And that beautiful girl could not possibly be devious. Oh no! That just can’t be true about such an angelic little princess. Her mother must be mad to say such things. Her mother must not appreciate the creative genius of that little lamb. Really. That girl is a saint! I’ll vouch for her, she’s perfect.

That is what you’re saying, I know it. But I, their mother, am not misled in thinking these two are trouble! Yes, it is usually a hilarious kind of trouble. But they are trouble, nonetheless. I’ll give you a taste of what I’ve dealt with this week:

That beautiful girl changes clothes constantly! Seriously. She takes off whatever outfit I have helped her pick out in the morning and proceeds to don whatever she fancies at the moment. In this particular moment, it happened to be her brother’s pants. Now, this adds to the already massive amounts of laundry I must do each week. (So far this week, I’m well over 15 loads. Yes, I said 15. And the week isn’t even over yet!)

Aidan won’t leave his pants on. He has decided this week that he is completely capable of changing his own diaper. He has taken an interest in using the potty, demanding I take him and sit him on the toilet several times a day so he can tinkle in the bowl. He feels he is too big for Mommy changing his diaper. This has resulted in at least 2 incidents of poo smearing. (At least he only smears it up his arms or down his legs and not in the carpet.)

Then there is the Burt’s Diaper Rash Cream incident. I had already told each of them at least once not to touch anything in the baskets on the changing table. (This included several baskets containing shoes, bibs, burp cloths, cloth wipes, cloth diapers, big girl panties, and diaper rash cream.) They chose to smear it all over one another. When they heard me coming (I tend to announce my presence.) they grabbed cloth wipes and bibs and tried to quickly clean up. It didn’t work.  (Their “punishment” was to clean it all up. Wipe it off every surface, remove their clothing, put all soiled washables into the washing machine, and into the bath the two went.)

As a side note, I know from previous experience (no, this isn’t a first) that the easiest way to remove unwanted butt cream is to wipe all excess off with a dry towel, then bathe in dish detergent. (You’ll never get the stuff out of their hair if you try to use regular shampoo.) So, they smelled like clean dishes afterward.

The beautiful girl also dresses her brother on occasion. Thus the flowery yellow and pink shirt. He is covered in soot. Why is that adorably toddler covered in soot? He climbed into the fireplace and sat on the log holder (or whatever the technical or proper term for that metal rack is).  And not only did he climb in there, his partner in crime was so kind to shut the fireplace screen behind him.

They also learned they can drag the dining room chairs all over the house so they can better reach the things I put too high for them. I caught them stealing bubble gum (Aidan was stealing, Imogene was coaching). They also attempted to steal vitamins, but they couldn’t figure out how to get past the sink.

Imogene also bathed Aidan in their bathroom sink with his clothes on. She was supposed to be in there pottying, but when the water ran longer than it took to wash her hands, I found a fully clothed Aidan in the sink while Imogene bathed him.

Aidan was a super big helper and picked up Lucas’s “accident” with his hands. Yeah. Really helping his Mommy out. Someone’s gotta be the man of the house, right?

They took a cardboard bolt that fabric comes on and used it as a sled to slide down the climber’s slide. Very inventive. It took about 5 minutes before they were both hurt and crying.

Aidan busted a Chick-Fil-A container of Polynesian sauce and poured it one himself. He got mad when Lucas (our dog) started licking him clean.

And to the double trouble we add the third little trouble maker. He threw up in his sister’s hair once, my bed three times, his Daddy’s belly once, and Mommy’s shoulder/shirt too many times to count.

I’m sure I missed some other mischief, but you get the idea. It has been one crazy week! Aren’t toddlers fun?!