Books in the Dishwasher and Socks on the Fridge

As Ethan grows every day he becomes more and more fun to play with and watch. (not that he wasn't fun to begin with).

We have a game cabinet that is basically a storage cabinet just shoved full of games. It has two large doors and three drawers below the doors. This cabinet is overflowing with games and we still have two boxes in the garage that never got unpacked.

Ethan loves to pull the games down, open the boxes, and play with all the pieces. The more games he can combine and play with all together the happier he is. Well I have gotten a bit tired of cleaning up game after game and I am certainly tired of running after him saying No over and over while he heads to the cabinet.

So the other day I got frustrated, took a wooden spoon and slid it through the handles to keep it shut. To say he was not happy is an understatement. He was pissed! He cried, yelled, pulled on the doors, told me to go (while pointing at the doors), and then just ended up crying in my lap. It was pretty funny. I did not laugh outloud at him. First I didn't want to hurt his feelings and second temper tantrums are not funny and if I laughed he might have repeated it for a laugh later. No thank you.
But it was hard not to laugh. He was down right adorable!

So he finally calmed down, had lunch, played some, and took a nap. When he got up from his nap the first thing he did was go and stare at the cabinet. This time he wasn't mad or crying. He just looked at the cabinet and I can tell you now he was thinking how to solve this problem.

He looked at the cabinet very quietly for a good two minutes. Then he turned and walked into the livingroom. He went to his toy bins and began searching (dumping some toys out) until he found his mini broom. He walked straight back into the gameroom up to the game cabinet and took one good swing at the spoon with the broom handle and knocked it out of the handles. He had a huge smile on his face as he put down his broom, picked up the wooden spoon, and brought me the spoon.

It was so funny. He was so proud of himself that I allowed him to secretly pull out a couple games, make a mess, and then I put them all away.

So the wooden spoon didn't work. SO I stared at the cabinet, looked down to the unmatched sock basket, grabbed a long pink and white sock and tied the damn thing shut. He didn't notice me doing it this time and when he did try to open the cabinet next, he didn't get mad.

So the sock worked! Well alright! Wait a minute...I have the same problem with the refrigerator and Ethan! He loves to unload the condiments from the door shelves and rearrange things (so that the door won't close). He also enjoys just opening the door and sitting on the little ledge.

So now we have a all white unmatched sock that is for tying the fridge door shut! You know what else it helps with? Teenagers who are bored starring into the fridge hoping they will find something grand in there or maybe something to do. If they have to untie the door just to get in, well that's too much work. So they move on. Genius!!! Even if you don't have kids, tie the fridge door shut, maybe you will go in there less!

Books in the dishwasher...yesterday Ethan opened the dishwasher before I walked in the room (he loves to open it while it is going) he tossed in his Polar Bear board book. I grabbed the book out quickly, closed and restarted the cycle. I dried the book off, wrapping each page in a paper towel and put a nice heavy book on top for it to dry. I never even thought that there could be more than one book in the dishwasher.
Well a couple hours later when Macy was unloading the dishwasher she found another board book farther in. Wow does that heating element work! The book was soaking wet except for one area...the very burnt cover from the heating element. Thank goodness the book was soaking wet before the drying cycle started!
I guess I need to figure out a way to lock the dishwasher...a sock will definitely NOT work. Anyone have any suggestions? LOL