Danger ahead
We have a giant range in the kitchen that we inherited from the previous owner whose controls are situated such that all Marlo would have to do is wiggle this one over here, and that one over there, and suddenly globe manufacturers are scrambling to remove Utah from their next installments.
Does that frighten you? To have your safety in the hands of a sixteen-month-old who likes to put the dog's tail in her mouth? Because I find it kind of exhilarating. In an adolescent boy jumping off the top of the house into a shallow pool kind of way. Listen, I'm thirty-five years old. I have a mortgage to pay, kids whose college I have to save for. I'm not allowed to jump off the house into anything.
A dangerous toddler will do, is what I'm saying.
And danger is exactly what she is seeking out now, every waking moment of her life. When she walks by that range she automatically starts going NO NO NO NO in a sarcastic tone because we're constantly repeating that when she heads for those controls. She is making fun of us. Like she's a grown woman visiting her mother's house and going, "Hey, Mom. When you wake up and see that giant ceramic rooster staring at you, do you run to the bathroom or just shit your pants in bed?"
I'm just using that as an example.
Because she may pass by those controls right then, but once you take that moment to sigh she's in the pantry sticking her head in the dog's water bowl. And then while you're cleaning up the water that has spilled into a giant three-foot-wide puddle, she's run into the living room, climbed on top of the sofa and is waiting for you to see her before she tries to back flip onto the coffee table. Oh, and she has your cell phone clutched between her teeth.
This is the Universe laughing and shaking its head at me because I once innocently wondered out loud, "Do you think the second one will be different from the first?"
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FM Living
Meisen said:
Heeeeere's Marlo!!!! Mwaaahahaha!!
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10.28.10 - 11:21 AM / 1ninabina said:
That profile shot is adorable! I love the tongue sticking out and the tiny, tiny ponytail!
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10.28.10 - 11:21 AM / 2Marianne said:
She has the most beautiful blue eyes. Full of mischief!
I don't know how I lived through two mischievous boys. Just wait until she's 24, riding a motorcycle across country and talking about the next tattoo she's getting.
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10.28.10 - 11:30 AM / 3Mama to Henry said:
My son is also 16 1/2 months and he does the same "No, no, no" taunting when he knows he is not supposed to do something. Either that or you'll tell him "no" and he'll go "YESH."
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10.28.10 - 11:30 AM / 4Winniegirl said:
You're right, it is just like having a boy - mine!
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10.28.10 - 11:31 AM / 5labradoris said:
But she's SOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE! She wins.
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10.28.10 - 11:35 AM / 6Alfriston said:
Marlo's activity level and lack of fear reminds me of my son at the same age. He's a somewhat more sensible 12-year-old now, but I literally could not let him out of my sight when he was a toddler. Had to take him into the bathroom with me when I needed to "go". Used to drag his high chair and some toys or food into the bathroom to imprison him while I showered. Fun times.
And, editing to add that the "NO NO NO NO" takes me back to the time we visited a home with a floor to ceiling book case, the first three or four shelves of which were accessible to my toddler son. Each shelf was covered with numerous tiny ornaments, knick-knacks and doo-hickeys. He approached the shelf as I was lunging towards him in an effort to divert his attention to something else. "No, Naughty, No." he said. Still spent the entire visit wrestling crystal mice and fragile teacups from his sticky little hands.
Marlo is such a beauty! Love the eyes, the smile, and the dimple.
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10.28.10 - 11:44 AM / 7jmerry said:
Most stoves you can pull the knobs right off. That's what we did to childproof. They can't turn the knobs if they aren't on there.
Great pics!
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10.28.10 - 11:38 AM / 8amyptucson said:
I guess duct tape and a straight jacket are out of the question, hunh?
Oh well, only 17 more years to go...
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10.28.10 - 11:50 AM / 9ModernMamaz said:
Oh Marlo, you are so much like you're momma :)
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10.28.10 - 11:57 AM / 10Amanda Brumfield said:
She is a little doll. Danger is her middle name.
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10.28.10 - 12:01 PM / 11Niki said:
Oh dear. I had one like this. It's like being on suicide watch.
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10.28.10 - 12:04 PM / 12Amber_D said:
I feel for you because I have a 19 month old adrenaline junkie too! This morning she learned how to turn the lock and open the front door. I found that out when I came back to our living room from the kitchen (where I had been filling up the sippy cup she shook at me and shrieked "MOOOOORE!") and found her outside trying to push our deck furniture down the porch stairs. She had a chair right at the edge of the stairs, and like Marlo, was WAITING there for me to find her before she gave it that final shove to the concrete below while grinning. I was gone 60 seconds max.
Pure evil.
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10.28.10 - 12:22 PM / 13lisdom said:
Oh Bobo. Good luck to you. Also: I have a friend who actually gave her son the middle name "Danger."
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10.28.10 - 12:24 PM / 14Rosamund said:
Mine's like this as well and about a week younger than Marlo. Her favourite games are taking the dishes out of the cupboard and swapping them for rubbish from the kitchen bin and climbing up the shelves in the living room to find nail scissors and emery boards (she likes to file her head). We put a gate across the kitchen door!
None of that phases me but I get really irritated when she pretends she can't hear me. She may as well be singing "la la la, I can't hear you".
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10.28.10 - 12:25 PM / 15Tobie said:
That's hilarious about her mocking you with "NO NO NO" :) .
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10.28.10 - 12:28 PM / 16saraminerva444 said:
I SO get you. This is my life, except both my kids are like this. My days are spent averting crises.
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10.28.10 - 12:39 PM / 17austinmomof7 said:
My three year old rolled her eyes and laughed at me when I told her no the other day. I not asking you, I asking my daddy. I. Am. Screwed.
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10.28.10 - 12:56 PM / 18TexasKatie said:
Too funny. So glad that Marlo has her own funny little personality. I do know one thing - she is Leta's spitting image - except a blonde, blue eyed version.
As for that chipped tooth - what does her dentist say about that? Just wondering. Does it have to remain that way until she is 5 and it falls out??
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10.28.10 - 12:56 PM / 19kshelton said:
Is it possible to remove the knobs when you are not using the stove so Marlo will not start WW3? She is adorable but reckless!
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10.28.10 - 12:57 PM / 20york granny said:
my granbaby is also fearless !
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10.28.10 - 01:04 PM / 21Greygirl said:
I think you'd better hope that Marlo never ever ever watches that "People are Awesome" video!
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10.28.10 - 01:13 PM / 22lorielin said:
My younger daughter was just like this when she was younger. Thankfully, at 16 she's much more relaxed and not the wild child we thought she'd turn out to be.
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10.28.10 - 01:15 PM / 23scuppie said:
Oh my god, this is SO my child. Eliza is 15 1/2 months and insists on going to the "big kid" section of the park so she can go down the tall slides. She doesn't have a snaggle tooth, though. Yet.
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10.28.10 - 01:28 PM / 24simpliSAHM said:
Marlo sounds so much like my "little guy"....afterall, I don't call the blog Surviving Assorted Home Mayhem for nothing.
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10.28.10 - 01:31 PM / 25girlplease said:
Has she:
picked up dog poo and given it to you?
got on all 4s and drink from the water bowl? Oh and
don't forget drinking from a water puddle in the DRIVEWAY and gee I wonder where 104 fevers come from. Hmm.
gnaw on the dog's kong toy?
try to stealth wipe you as you pee?
No? Then stop bragging about your kid trying to blow up your neighborhood with the stove.
*kidding* Aren't they all little wonders (who make you take lots of meds just to get through your day? and yea I want another one)
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10.28.10 - 01:37 PM / 26Laura Jones said:
But in the pictures she's so innocent looking and pictures don't lie do they.
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10.28.10 - 01:47 PM / 27Ashleigh said:
Wow it sounds like you just wrote about my 17 month old. Except instead of "NO No No No" I hear HOT HOT HOT.
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10.28.10 - 01:53 PM / 28hmccreary said:
I have a 19 month old daughter and I am RIGHT. THERE. WITH. YOU.
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10.28.10 - 01:59 PM / 29KatieKat484 said:
This makes me afraid to have babies. But if they're as cute as Bobo, I might have too...
I used to babysit a little girl like her. She ran away from me right after she learned to walk, and when I caught her (like 10 seconds later) she was taking a BATH in the dog bowl. Gross.
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10.28.10 - 02:14 PM / 30