My Angel is the Devil!

(Disclaimer: I have tried putting in spaces and separating paragraphs and indenting the paragraphs, and everytime I hit "publish post" it goes back to one big long blob of a post. Harder to read, sorry!!)

Look at that face! Could he really be the devil, you may ask? Well, maybe not, but he sure likes to be naughty! My day today brought memories of a few months ago flooding back. The memorable day that has now become famous among friends and relatives alike, as well as strangers who've had my bad day emailed to them from my friends and relatives, for a good chuckle. I think I'll start with reminiscing about that day, which will make my day today seem much tamer in comparison: Poop smeared up and down the stairs to the basement, with poop smeared all over basement carpet and toys. Ashes from fire place all over him and the living room. Barbeque sauce all over him and the table and chairs (he snuck down at night and did this with the lights off). Syrup (Sam's club size) poured all over him, with a layer of hair sticking to that, and the kitchen and up and down the hallways and on the leather chair and ottoman.

I'm sure there was more, but I think I have blocked it, you know, PTSD?! This was all in one day! I was ready to go to the funny farm. After a few months of therapy and a lot of cleaning solution, he was doing so much better. I call this the Sunny period. He was fun and easy to take places, and listened pretty well.

Um....yeah, those days are gone. And, lately, he's been doing more sucking on his tongue and hiding his head under his blanket everywhere we go. He's been rubbing his face alot, and freaking completely out about germs. You can't kiss him, he has to kiss you on the cheek. He will melt down for an hour if you happen to take a drink out of his cup, or if he even suspects that you've touched something of his with saliva. Forget about the mom lick and swipe on his face!! So, I've been worried about him, as he seems to be regressing back into his sensory problems, and his speech is still significantly delayed, so that's another worry.

Anyway, because I've been worried about these things, I haven't been paying as much attention to sneaky behavior, until this week. Then I started taking note of how many poopy diapers have come off, how many things have been squeezed out (paint, toothpaste, medication, etc.), how many toilets have been clogged with various items, how much he's been sneaking out and hiding again. You get the picture. Well, today, I was on the phone for about a half hour. During that time, I was on the computer for this call, looking up maps, etc. I could hear him in the living room, so I wasn't worried about him sneaking out and wandering the neighborhood. Well, after I got off the phone, I walked into the kitchen and found every paper towel individually ripped off and strewn around the house in a distinct "choo choo" pattern. As I followed the "train tracks" I found that he had dumped a huge bag of rice all over the whole living room; in furniture, on the tv stand in every spot on the floor, all over the piles of laundry I just folded (and I mean in every crease). That was frustrating, but no big, since I can at least vacum that up, right? Then I saw the heater vent pulled up. Inside the heater were small books, a sandwhich, our whole jar of money that we pay the kids to do odd jobs was dumped in, dollars, and change alike. The jar itself and the lid were way back down in, as well as crayons, small McDonald's toys, etc. It was crammed full!!! This was after 4 diapers stripped off that I put back on him while I was on the phone in the other room.

Really, compared to other days, it's not too bad, but when there are 5 little naughty things going on in the span of 45 minutes, it makes me want to pull my hair out! His favorite new trick is to stick his fingers in his diaper and pull out a chocolate-like hand and chase me with it. Fun, no? You can't help but love the kid, even though strangling sounds pretty enticing at times, too. He's always really good, after some little devious trick of his, to tell me, "No, mommy, naughty!" Glad he knows that. That's the first step, right? (And knowing is half the battle...yo, Joe!)

Anyway, I love my boy! We saw our leaves falling off of our red maple, so we gave it a good shake and played in the fall "rain" of red leaves. So fun! They love to climb that tree (evidenced by al the broken branches at the bottom of it). This picture embodied his beautiful, fun-loving smile. He's a keeper.