It seems like with 11 other people living in the house, keeping up with one two year old shouldn’t be that hard. I shouldn’t have all kinds of crazy tales to tell about Leo and his big brother Jake who just can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble. But every day I have another story to add to growing list of crazy antics. Maybe if there was just one of them it might be different; but with a two and three year old living together and feeding off of one another, it seems that we never lack for stories. Despite so many big people living in our house, two little people, two boys in particular, get themselves into a pickle many, many times a day.

But how is that possible? Are we just not watching them? How can they go undetected by so many others? Let me tell you friends, I think little people are magical creatures who have powers to do things we can’t even comprehend. How else can an almost empty bottle of powder coat everything in an entire room? How can they ride the cat without getting attacked or get into the toothpaste, tampons, and Bengay without anyone noticing? How do they steal away to the bathroom to flood it weekly without any of us catching them until it’s too late? They must be magical… it’s the only explanation I have.

Ok, ok, so maybe they aren’t magical, but sometimes they do seem to have magical powers. There are times I turn around and each one is quietly playing; turn around again just a moment later and they are gone… looking for something to get into. Seriously, how do they do that?

It’s not a matter of not watching them. Shoot, they have really do have eyes on them all the time. When I’m not watching them they have a bigger kid in charge of them. Typically though there are several people in the room with them at a time, all with instructions to not let them out of their sight. However, they are miniature Houdinis ready to escape at a moment’s notice and leave us mystified and baffled.

This is the first time we have ever had boys born this close together. When Ben was born, Garrett was already 11. When Jake was born, Ben was 6. We have girls born this close together; actually they are even closer in age than Jake and Leo. Madison and Caroline are Irish Twins, born less than a year apart. They are closer in age, but man, they were never this naughty! The dynamics of having boys close together (and one after another) is completely different than having girls close together (or even 4 girls in a row!).  I’m sure there are girls out there who gave their parents a run for their money like our boys, but in our house, this is a new thing.

There are days I shake my head and wonder why they do the things they do and if they will ever not do these things. Here’s a sampling of just a few things that were said about Leo yesterday:

Leo has a sticker on his wiener! It’s Olaf, no wait, it’s Elsa!

Leo is stuck in the toilet again!

Leo is in your bathroom and got into your oils…again!

Leo got into the tampons again!

Leo has the bucket turned over again trying to get in your drawer to find more Hershey Nuggets!

Leo got into the sunscreen! It’s all over the place! It’s on my bed!

Leo is naked and won’t put his clothes back on! His wiener is on everything!

Leo is naked in the dollhouse! I think he wants to live in there!

While it is exhausting, I have to say that they keep me laughing at some of the things they do. Yesterday when Leo got sunscreen all over the bedroom and I went to get him, I had a hard time being stern. Bella looked at me and said, “Mama, this is NOT funny.” I winked at her and said, “It’s a little bit funny.”

I smiled at Bella and then took Leo by the hand and led him to the bathroom to clean him off, all the while trying to be firm while telling him that was a naughty thing to do and that he shouldn’t do it again. His little lip poked out and I felt bad for him because, really, he was just having fun with that squirty bottle of sunscreen. He didn’t mean to make a mess.

Having two little boys close in age and in personality is a new adventure for us. We’ve had children keep us on our toes before, but normally they were by themselves in their tomfoolery. These boys pair up to engage in various shenanigans and as a team they do far more damage than any one of the kids did in the past. They are definitely going to keep us guessing and keep us busy!

We are adjusting to this new parenting adventure. It’s not been easy, but it sure has provided a lot of laughs. I don’t think it would matter if we had another 11 sets of eyes to watch them, these boys are going to be naughty, get dirty, make messes, and in general, live life by waking up and thinking about what new monkey business they can find to immerse themselves into.

And I am looking forward to every minute of it!