Flushed Away

Carter is very (and I do not use the term lightly) mischievous. That is mischievous driven out of curiosity. Weekly, sometimes daily, it is not uncommon for me to fix something, unclog something, clean something, or just throw away something that has been the target of Carter's undying curiosity.

Just this past week, I have unclogged his toilet three different times. He was so sweet to "clean" his bathroom "like mommy" does - leaving me a heaping mess of laundry and re sanitizing the floors, not to mention the walls and throwing his and Kelsey's toothbrushes away. Then I also hunted the house for light bulbs that he has removed and tried to fit in other random places throughout the house. He must sit around thinking, "what can I do to drive Mommy crazy? Hmmmmm let me see." Actually, the problem is that he does not just sit. He is constantly in motion. He goes from one activity to another without even so much as a pause.

This past week Todd had been out of town for the week. Carter and Kelseys' toilet had been flushing very slowly. I finally used the plunger to see if it helped. Yup! Good to go. That evening, it was flushing really slow again. Fixed it again. I asked Carter if he put anything down there -

Mommy: Carter, what did you put in the potty today?"

Carter: What potty?

Mommy: your potty.

Carter: Poop and Pee only go in the potty. And only 4 squares of toilet paper.(holding up 4 fingers)

Mommy: Is that what you put in your potty?

Carter: No.

Mommy: what did you put in it?

Carter: I don't know - what went in the potty?

Forget it, I was obviously not going to get an answer out of him.
Todd got back from his trip and I asked him to fix the toilet. Meanwhile I asked them to use the potty by the playroom. Kelsey did great, Carter, went in his potty, and it was not pee, right before Daddy was going in to fix it. Daddy was NOT happy about this.

Needless to say, he finally got it all cleaned and fixed the toilet. So what WAS in the toilet this time? A marker.

Daddy: Carter, how did the marker get in the potty?

Carter: I don't know.

Mommy: Carter did you put the marker in the potty?

Carter: Mmmmhmmm. (shaking his head yes).

Mommy: Please do not put anything in the potty except your pee, poo and no more than 4 squares of paper. It stops it up and then we cannot flush the potty.

Carter: okay.

Mommy: Carter, we have said this to you many times, do you understand why we don't want you to put these things in the potty?

Carter: Yes, but Daddy will always fix it.

One thing I can be sure of, is this WILL NOT be the last time this happens. This is the 3rd toilet in that bathroom. For the record, we have had little people stuck in there, washcloths, toothbrushes, whole rolls of paper, a tennis shoe, Barbie heads, underwear, bath toys, crayons, and now a marker - all flushed down the toilet.

I cannot ask anymore "when will he learn not to do this?" I realized he already "knows" not to do it. What he also learned is that no matter how many times he does it - or anything else, if is fixable, DADDY WILL FIX IT - so why the hell not? right?

Just today, Todd fixed the hole in the wall Carter made by slamming the door back. The Fix It list is a long list in our house. One item gets marked off and two more get added. Someday, Carter's curiosity, fun and logic will move beyond destruction of our house and on to more productive projects and Daddy's Fix it list will get shorter......we can only pray.