Kids, Tables, and Outlets

Do you ever feel like your kids are one step ahead of you?  Like they've got a hidden list of things to try next when you tell them "no" to the thing they did before?  This is currently my life. One thing, after another, after another.  The best part is that it is not one repetitive child.  They take turns catching me off-guard.  I never know who's next.  Or what.  Oh Lord, help me.

After raising two girls (and by "raising" I mean the first 3 & 5 years of their lives), a boy is just so...different.  Someone please tell me how he knows to call UPS & semi's "trucks" and not "cars"?  And who taught him to make car noises?

Just yesterday I was battling with him over the kitchen table.  We have a bar-height table and chairs in our kitchen.  He can climb them.  He can get on the table.  And I'm afraid that one day, he will jump.  Scary?  Yes.

Tonight, after we put the girls in bed, they quickly came out and were mumbling something (okay, they weren't really mumbling so much as I was tuning them out since I had just left their room).  Ben said to me, "I think they put something in the outlet".  I quickly got up and went into their room.  I saw black around their nightlight.  "Oh my" came out of my mouth.  I pulled the nightlight out.  "Oh sweet Jesus" came out of my mouth next as I saw the black all over the outlet cover.  My unsuspecting and curious children immediately began to weep.  Whoops.  Should not have let them hear my surprise.

Upon examining the princess bracelet left at the scene (and the fact that the nightlight pretty much covered the top outlet), we figured out that our middle child had either dropped or hung the bracelet behind the back of the nightlight.  It must've caught the not-all-the-way-plugged-in nightlight plug and was enough to send some sparks flying and fry the outside of the cover.

Our almost 5 year old informed us that "it went really white, then red, and then it smelled really bad".

We thanked Jesus for keeping them safe.

Now to let the landlord know.