Testing Boundaries

I'm so tired. My girl has worn me out good today. We have now reached the stage of toddlerhood where testing boundaries is fun. This picture, which is the only one I took today, is a prime example. Here she is trying to get up out of her high chair. She knows she's not supposed to, but she kept inching up, up, up- just waiting for me to say something. And then the moment I said to sit down, she plopped back down and laughed hysterically.

Everything that she wasn't supposed to do, touch, climb was done, touched, and climbed. Or attempted to anyway. The thing is she knows she's not supposed to be doing these things because she'll call for my attention if I'm not looking.

I've told her countless times not to climb the back of the sofa. Still, she continues to try. If I don't catch her right away, she'll call out, "Mama! Down!" And no, she's not asking to be helped down. She's just heard me say 'down' so many times when she's up there. It's almost like a mischievous little taunt- 'Look at me, Mama! You always tell me to get down, but here I am anyway!' And the look on her face is so sly, like she knows she's trying to get away with something. Goodness, if she's already like this at 16 months, what more when she's 16 years old?

And don't even get me started on the trash can. She's worse than a puppy. At least my crazy little puggle puppy from once upon a time ago couldn't open the trash can. But this little girl can. And I don't know if I should even admit this, but I caught her eating scraps out of there once. Disgusting, I know, but at least it was just a banana that had over ripened. It could have been much worse.

So all this boundary testing has left me completely depleted at the end of the day. And what's funny is that last night after she had gone to bed, I cleaned hard core- dusted the furniture with Pledge, swept the floors and mopped, vacuumed, and picked up all scattered toys and books. But as I look around me now, it looks like none of that ever happened.

I'm so tired....