And turn knobs, switches, and everything else too. I'm talking about Caleb. He is so mechanically inclined. I bit too much. Lately I am feeling a little crazy. He turns the water off in the bathroom (I'm not talking about the faucets), he has flipped breakers, turns the sprinkler system on, turns the fridge temperature up, turns on the headlights, puts on the parking break, locks doors just so he can pick the locks, puts toys behind the van tires so I will run them over and changes the kitchen timer when I am not looking. And probably some other things that I haven't listed yet. Caleb isn't really an adventurer. He just does little things here and there. I go to get the milk out of the fridge, and half the stuff in the fridge is frozen. I go to wash my hands in the bathroom and the water doesn't work.
What really has made me feel nuts lately has been the kitchen timer. I trade teaching piano lessons. Kathryn teaches Rachel, and I teach Kathryn's daughter. When I am teaching, I set the kitchen timer for the lesson time, so I know about when to end the lesson. I don't have a clock in the living room. This week when I was teaching, the lesson, seemed to last a really long time. When I finally went to see how much time was left, there was still about 2 hours left on the time. Kathryn had been waiting outside for quite a long time for the lesson to end. About 2 weeks ago, Alex had the stomach flu. I only had about half an hour until I needed to take Rachel to piano lessons. I was so tired from being up in the night, so I set the time for a few minutes so I could rest, and then wake up to take Rachel on time. Well, when the timer beeped, it was far too late for piano lessons. Believe me, I have learned my lesson about using the kitchen timer for things. Yesterday when I made cookies, I threatened him that he wouldn't get any if he got near the timer.
Caleb is such a cute boy though. He just got his first tooth out. Now he is excitedly wiggling the next tooth. He can work all the electronics in the house far better than Rachel. And probably some of them better than me. Right now he is watching the washing machine.
I never knew how hard having 4 kids could be. Alex is starting to get into things. Anna is always trying to go on an adventure by herself. And Caleb is always messing with everything. At least Rachel is at an easy stage. I wouldn't trade my kids for anything. I love them so much. I just feel really tired by the end of the day. As our lives change, we just get different challenges.
