Gong! Gong! Gong!

AAAAHHHH -- Where do I even start??? I'm not even sure where to begin....

The past couple of weeks Caleb has been giving me a run for my money, and we're experiencing a few growing pains in the process. I'm trying to balance him being a boy versus turning into a total gong show and seriously hurting himself in the process. It's so hard... I don't want to kill his spirit and take away some of his "boyness", but on the other hand, he's got to meet me half way....

I won't bore you with all the details, so here's the cliff notes version....

Probably about two months ago, Katherine thought it was a great idea to show Caleb how to get into his crib with the rail all the way up. So, my little man stands on the floor, puts his foot on the mattress and scales the bars of his crib and then flops head first into his bed. He LOVES this move, but man... I swear it looks like he's going to break his neck in the process. He and I have had LONG talks about how it's OK to do this going into his bed, but NEVER out -- as he'd fall on the floor. I thought he understood.....

Also, at the same time... Caleb loves to turn on his light after he's in bed for the night and play with his posse of stuffed animals (who are required to sleep with him) or grab onto his rail and see how high he can jump in the bed.... So, Matt moved his crib down the wall about 8 inches so that he couldn't reach the light switch. Or so we thought.....

About two weeks ago, we had just put him to bed, and I was in Katherine's room tucking her in. All of a sudden, I heard a loud thud and ran into his room, only to find him standing in front of the door sobbing. He tried to reach the light switch and fell out of his crib, HEAD FIRST, onto the floor. After some cuddling and consoling, and realizing that it wasn't a good idea to get out his crib, he went back to bed. I seriously thought we had a meeting of the minds. WRONG!

Late last week, he decided that he didn't need a nap, so he threw everything in his bed (stuffed animals, blankets, even his pants) into his hamper which sits on the opposite end of his crib. He said, "I don't need my animals and blankets anymore. I'm not sleeping. I put them in my hamper to wait for me". After I got him dressed and put his bed back together, he laid down for what I *thought* was a nap. About an hour later, Danyel stopped by to pick something up. When he heard the doorbell ring, he started yelling for me. When I went into his room, he wasn't in his bed... He was standing, NAKED from the waist down and with his arm caught straight up through the collar of his shirt, IN HIS HAMPER. That's right. He was in his flipping hamper. I have NO idea how he got in there as it wasn't tipped over and it comes up to at least his shoulders. I'm assuming, he scaled his crib, climbed onto his changing table and hoisted himself down into the hamper. But come on! You've got to be kidding me. Talk about dangerous!

When I went in and asked what he was doing, he looked at me and said, "I no need a nap Mommy.... so I wait for you in my hamper". Allrighty then! We had a long talk about he is to stay in his bed until I come and get him, and under NO circumstances is it a good idea to get into his hamper.

I'm thinking it's time to move him into a big boy bed, but selfishly I had been putting it off because I like the containment element of his crib. Clearly, that's not an advantage anymore!

He's also going through this stage where he loves to be naked. Sunday I took him to the mall to buy a shirt for yesterday's pictures, and he decides to whip off his pants in Gymboree, take off running through the mall, yelling "LOOK AT ME"!!

So yesterday -- it was a mess from start to finish.... Since it was raining, I decided to get the kids dressed at Flash. Holly was a gem and helped me out. She dressed Katherine while I wrestled little man. At one point, Holly had to ask me a question about Katherine's dress, so I turned to look and Caleb took off running -- in his diaper. I took after him, walking quickly, never guessing he was running for the hills. I really thought he'd run for a bit to see if I'd follow him, but nooooo, this kid rounded the corner and was heading for the front door, with NO sign of stopping. It was insane. When I caught up to him, he had a fit and insisted that he'd walk back on his own. UUUUUGH.

He's also going through this very independent stage. He wants to do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING by himself, and refuses help from anyone. Long story short (mainly because I'm tired of typing!)..... After pictures, I took the kids out for lunch and then to the play area. When it was time to leave the play area, I asked Caleb to sit down so I could put on his shoes and socks. He was having NONE of it, so I grabbed him, sat him down, and tried to muscle him into his shoes, which wasn't working. He got away from me and stood up on the bench. I pointed to the bench and told him to sit down. He pointed right back at me (with an angry finger I might add) and said, "don't point at me Mommy"!!

Fuming, I put his shoes and socks into my purse, grab him and take off. He's screaming, crying, kicking, trying anything he can to get away from me.... It was quite the spectacle, let me assure you. The worst part was that I had to walk the ENTIRE LENGTH of the mall with a tantrum throwing toddler in my arms. At one point, I had to put him down and readjust, and the little turkey took off running back to the play area. It was pure madness! I just wanted to sit and cry! What I'm really wondering is.... Why didn't anyone stop me and ask me if everything was OK????? Seriously, I was expecting a cop to come up to me at any moment wondering if I was trying to steal this little boy who CLEARLY didn't want to be anywhere near me. But no, I could have easily stolen a kid yesterday! AAAHHH... I hope these wrinkles are worked out soon! I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle!