do girls do this too?
what the hell is it with boys? they are MOVERS and FIDDLERS, as in they pick up random objects and walk around, breaking the random objects on the way to whichever random spot they are going to drop them. I was just swooping around the house cleaning up a bit and found:
--A remote with its rubber band missing. Why a rubber band? They've picked up the remotes and opened and closed, opened and closed them until the back broke. And then the boys have lost the batteries. Or put them in backwards so you go on a big battery hunt to replace perfectly good batteries and only figure out the problem when you go to the store and buy the AA batteries and then open up the back and . . .
--The remote was in the kitchen. The object it controls is one floor and several rooms away.
--Little pieces of paper. Randomly torn up and dropped.
--A deodorant stick that's been twisted up to its limit so it's mooshed all against the top.
--A glue stick under the couch that's just like the deodorant. Mooshed against top.
--A plastic garden label from an angelonia plant, whatever that is. I can only see the name because the rest of it was left elsewhere. The label was carefully bent back and forth until it broke into pieces. Hard to break those things so this took some doing.
--A Mad Magazine that's been disemboweled. That's not so much a fiddly thing as a "leave it on the floor and let it get destroyed" thing.
--a Slinky that's twisted in on itself and stretched out.
--Pencils without erasers.
--Bits of erasers without pencils
--A remote with its rubber band missing. Why a rubber band? They've picked up the remotes and opened and closed, opened and closed them until the back broke. And then the boys have lost the batteries. Or put them in backwards so you go on a big battery hunt to replace perfectly good batteries and only figure out the problem when you go to the store and buy the AA batteries and then open up the back and . . .
--The remote was in the kitchen. The object it controls is one floor and several rooms away.
--Little pieces of paper. Randomly torn up and dropped.
--A deodorant stick that's been twisted up to its limit so it's mooshed all against the top.
--A glue stick under the couch that's just like the deodorant. Mooshed against top.
--A plastic garden label from an angelonia plant, whatever that is. I can only see the name because the rest of it was left elsewhere. The label was carefully bent back and forth until it broke into pieces. Hard to break those things so this took some doing.
--A Mad Magazine that's been disemboweled. That's not so much a fiddly thing as a "leave it on the floor and let it get destroyed" thing.
--a Slinky that's twisted in on itself and stretched out.
--Pencils without erasers.
--Bits of erasers without pencils
I"m in the same level of hell, Sug. At least ya'll have the backs to the remotes *sigh* And nothing, and I MEAN NOTHING, lights my ass up like it does when they move and fiddle with MY STUFF!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I had to read that first paragraph out loud to my ds. He ALWAYS does this, it's like he can't carry on a conversation with me without *something* in his hand. Something he walks away with. Something he can never remember where he left it. Something that is usually broken when it shows up again. Something that is usually MINE. *ggrrr*
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought I was the only one....
Yeah! that's just it. They don't even KNOW they're doing it. I'll say stop! stop! as they're dismantling some object and they'll give me that clueless look.
ReplyDeleteWhen my middle guy was three, he went to each lamp in the house and carefully unscrewed the switches (the kind you twist one way to turn the lamp on and the other way to remove the switch) and he lost the little whatchamhoosie switch thingies for just about all the table lamps in the house. But that was deliberate.
Fiddling is almost all unconscious--until it gets to the more elaborate stages.
My girls are generally not destructive, so maybe it is a boy thing. However, they are going-on-4 and 2 1/2, so everything smaller than a plate goes in their mouths. I have met kids without intense oral fixations, but my girls cannot be counted among them!
ReplyDeleteHate to butt in but... my daughter--who'll turn 14 this December--does. the. same. d@mned thing all the time!
ReplyDeleteOf course, her brother did too--he stopped a few years ago, which no doubt explains the fact that he's still among the living.
lovelysalome--I think this is an older kid thing. . .
ReplyDeleteazteclady--14, huh. So maybe (because girls are always more advanced) there's hope my guys will stop. Someday.
kathyf--very zen. I shall try to adopt this global attitude. I will not succeed.
--Little pieces of paper. Randomly torn up and dropped.
ReplyDelete--Bits of erasers without pencils
If that's for older kids, maybe mine are gifted?? ;)
I confirm. That would have made a lovely 13 by the way. ;-)
ReplyDeleteActually, the thing that gets me more than the trompled remotes that can't make it onto any surface higher than the floor are the shoes. I'm going to have to instill some discipline, but that means I have to set an example, doesn't it?
But my husband, after reading his papers, rips them in half or more and leaves them NEXT to the garbage, or balls them up and throws them toward the garbage, and never do they actually make it in until I lose my patience.
Okay, I'll stop harassing you now. Back to work, and I can't even write about toenail clippings.