Trouble...

Gavin is certainly a master when it comes to finding trouble. It must be an instinct to know exactly what things and places are off limits without having even been told before. He obviously quickly learns what is "not a toy" or "not a play area" and that then becomes the most desirable thing or place. No surprise there. We give him a lot of freedom though. There are plenty of things that are not actually toys that he is allowed to pull out and play with but lately he has really been pushing those limits. He has been "banned" from certain activities because he has decided to ignore the "rules". Again, pretty typical toddler stuff, not fun to enforce (constantly) but part of the territory.

Gavin claimed a bunch of Christmas wrapping paper a few weeks ago. He decided it would be fun to open the container, that I hadn't gotten around to taking back up to the attic yet, pull out rolls of wrapping paper and throw himself a party! Well, I let him have the roll and he had a ball. So, one roll of wrapping paper, no big deal. He loves it and it is cheap, cool. Yeah, too bad he decided to them claim several other rolls. I had to wrestle some away from him to salvage a few of the "old" rolls to pack away with the new ones we picked up this year. So, a few rolls of wrapping paper were sacrificed. It has provided hours of entertainment for Gavin, whatever.

Gavin has been banned (unless he is grabbing his cup of milk or water) from the refrigerator. He used to be allowed to "explore" but that then turned into dropping glass bottles (awesome) and dumping Parmesan cheese all over himself and the floor (double awesome).

Gavin has taken to throwing things over/through the gate to try to get us to "pick up" the item. Really, it is just a ploy to get us to open the gate so he can get down the stairs to play. He has also taken to shoving toys (mostly cars) under doors to try to get us to open the door. Mostly this just happens in the morning when Scott is still sleeping and the door is closed to keep Gavin from barging in and jumping on him. Clever little monkey... caught in the act...

He also loves to smoosh his face against the glass when Scott is hiding out in his radio room to check his e-mail, do some radio stuff or in the case of this day, work from home because his truck was in being inspected. Gavin was pulling out all the stops to try to be let in to "play". Yeah, he pretty much isn't allowed in there anymore either because his playing it usually way too rough and results in a stressed Scott because he doesn't want his equipment broken and a tantrum from Gavin when he is escorted out. So, his faces, while very cute, will get him nowhere.

Thankfully, the weather is starting to warm up, so it is much easier to spend most of our day outside when we are home. We did go outside a lot when it was colder, but after 45-60 minutes at a time it was too cold and time to go inside. Of course, Gavin does find "trouble" outside, but it isn't so bad. I would rather he want to spend his time outside than be stuck inside all the time so I can deal with the throwing, eating, and wearing of dirt and mulch. The insistence of carrying around pine cones, exploring the yard (and our neighbors yards - good thing we have nice neighbors!) and whatever else he manages to find.