Is he not entertained?

When it is quiet in the house I know Colter is probably at one of three places...wreaking havoc on my attempts at order.

For months now, he has used the fireplace as a sand box.  Our fireplace is gas-burning so there are decorative lava rocks all along the bottom of the fireplace.  Colter took note of the fireplace rocks right as the weather was warming up.  We live in California and a fireplace for warmth is silly--fireplaces are for ambiance and gas makes perfect sense.  We like to have a fire on Christmas Eve and that is about it.  Some times the kids will come home from school and want to read in front of the fireplace.  What I am saying here, is that the baby was never in any danger of grabbing a hot coal when he crawled over to the fireplace.  (Have I covered my own butt enough yet?)  Anyway, Colter loves to dig his fingers into the fireplace rocks, scoop out handfuls and sprinkle them all over the floor.  It is annoying!  I started keeping a broom and dustpan under the couch so I could sweep up his messes quickly.  I don't have a picture of this fireplace mess...I don't know why.  Maybe because I don't find it cute in the least little bit?  Those lava rocks are about as painful as a Lego or a Barbie shoe when you step on them in bare feet!

Since Lorien was a mobile baby I've kept a lower kitchen drawer or cupboard full of Tupperware/Rubbermaid dishes.  My babies like to be in the kitchen all the time when I am in the kitchen.  They also like to try and do what I am doing.  It is pretty handy to have a pile of dishes for babies to play with while you work in the kitchen. For some reason, we have a lot more of these kid friendly dishes this time around.  For another reason, Colter loves to get every. single. dish. spread all over the kitchen floor.



Look at that face.  Does he know he's a stinkin' little rascal or what?

Colter's third and newest little game of mess-making is the bottom shelf of the kids bookshelf.  Right now I keep wood puzzles and easy readers on these shelves.  As soon as Colter sees all that stuff looking neat and tidy he scoots over and starts pulling it apart.  He will pull these shelves apart as many times as I will put them back together.  Sometimes he will see the puzzles in a pile and the books all straightened and make a bee-line for the bottom shelf.  Then he will sit on his knees right in front of the shelf with a gigantic-happy-grin on his face.  He will look around until he sees me and smile extra wide as if to say "Oh Momma, it was so nice of you to put this all back together so I could pull it apart!"  Good thing he is so darn cute.