The trouble with boys

Poor Ian. He's such a challenge. He's the most loving little guy I've ever seen--he's sweet and snuggly. But he gets a twinkle in his eye sometimes that means trouble is on the way. Not that he's meaning to be "bad". He's just curious and mischevious--and that's a combination that spells trouble.

This week's episodes have pretty near done me in. The first incident occured at a store. Merry Grace was standing in the back of the buggy while Ian walked along beside me. At one point he climbed up on the side of the buggy, his little feet planted on the bars underneath, while he held onto the side. The next thing I knew it was like Newton's apple was falling all over again, as gravity took over. The buggy toppled over with Ian still hanging on. He was falling backwards, the buggy coming with him and Merry Grace still inside. I tried to stop it, but there was nothing I could do. The laws of physics had taken over. Ian landed square on his back, the buggy on top of him and Merry Grace, miraculously, still sitting inside the buggy. There were a few harried moments as we tried to sort everything out, but somehow everyone was okay. Of course it took another 15 minutes for my legs to stop shaking, but all in all we were fine.

The next incident also happened in a store. Cory and Elise had gone to Home Depot, while Ian, Merry Grace and I picked up some things from Wal-Mart. Ian had grabbed a gorilla balloon near the enterance and was having a blast slinging, dragging, throwing and punching it up and down the aisles. (Those little yellow weights at the bottom really add to the fun...) So at one point he had run down to the end of the aisle and I called him back, as we were going to head to another part of the store. He came running at full speed and at the last minute I realize he was going to collide with the buggy. It was like watching a train wreck. I saw it coming but was powerless to stop it. He did, indeed, hit the buggy head on--with such force the he was thrown back onto the ground. Once again, besides a bump or two, he was fine.

Those, in conjunction with another episode or two, have left me shaking in my boots at the thought of what that kid will do next. He really wears me out!!! But just today he was talking about how he had gotten footprints on the windshield by walking up it and I mentioned that the footprints were frustrating for me to see around while I was driving. On his own, he went out there with baby wipes and cleaned off the windshield. And that is why I love this kid.