Is Independence a Good Thing?!

For those of you who visit my blog, these are repeats...sorry! Anyway, here you go.
Neleah has become increasingly independent over the last little while. She insists on picking out her own outfit, brushing her teeth, washing her hands, etc. all by herself. This is normally a good thing. Recently she found the drawer where I've put all the bottles. She hasn't had a bottle since she was 1 but she likes to play with them. Mason and Neleah will line them up then knock them all down, it makes a lot of noise, maybe that's what's so 'fun' about the bottles. On occasion she'll ask for some water in one, and she's usually ok when I tell her no. Yesterday she and Mason had been playing with the bottles and she asked me for some juice. I told her no, so she went to daddy, who also told her no. I went back to trying to decorate our place and 10 minutes or so passed. I went back into the kitchen and asked Donney where she was. He hadn't noticed she'd left the room. I called for her and she came around the corner with a big smile on her face and her bottle was half full of water. Donney and I chuckled, little miss had climbed into the tub, turned the water on and got herself what she wanted. I took her wet hands and walked her back into the front room. She looked up at me with her big smile "Juice Mom!", took a drink of her water then said, "Uck Mom" and laughed. "You're so silly." I said to her. She did it again. Still completely convinced she had been in the tub, I decided I better go make sure she turned the water all the way off. When I walked in, this is what I saw...

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but there is a nice trail of water that leads right to the TOILET! "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH Neleah!!" I ran to her and took her 'juice' from her. I too began to tell her "Uck Neleah, that is so yucky!" She did the same thing she'd been doing, "Uck mom!" and then just laughed. So you're wondering where she picked up this "Uck" sound. Well as part of her new independence, she's also been using the toilet as her sink to wash her hands! I've been telling her over and over "Yucky! No No No!" She always says "Uck" and looks at me as though she's convinced the toilet is a nasty place to put our hands. However, it's clearly not what she's thinking. It's time to potty train, maybe she'll understand that's what toilet's are used for. Just as a side note, I had just cleaned the toilet on Saturday and it was flushed! LOL
Here she is in a pull-up she put on all by herself. Yes she undresses herself too!


First of all, let me say my son has amazing upper body strength. He can pull himself up onto just about anything and he doesn't need any sort of step to get him there. With that being said keep in mind our microwave is above our stove and he's used it often, but with supervision. Anyway, when your sweet 3 year olds are laughing and saying "Shew fire", it's a good indication something may not be right. I walked into the kitchen to a nasty smell and a smoke filled room. The microwave was on and had been for 3-4 minutes. (See the video below) Mason tells me he was cooking breakfast for me. :) 0Before I picked ALL the crispy pancakes off I grabbed the camera. Needless to say, I've learned how to put the child lock on.


I'm sitting here posting this with Ma on my lap anxiously awaiting "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." She thinks I'm "tricking" her because I keep going from my blog to this one and not to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She just said, "AAHH man mom this is an abomination!!!" (Too much Lilo and Stitch!)