What is amazing to me is how different two children raised in the same home can be. My daughter is the fiend, my son is generally pretty mellow. So here's a run-down on Shelby...
The VCR was her nemesis as a toddler. She stuck golf tees, pacifiers, coins and one one memorable occasion, a sandwich into the all-taking slot. It finally gave up sometime after the sandwich incident.
She decided to help Steve do body work on a car one day. With a small sledge hammer. On a car that didn't need any body work... She went all the way down both sides... Several cars were "rock" victims.
We raised her to not be squeamish over spiders, snakes, etc. She says she found a spider. I was laying on the couch. She dropped it on my chest. It was very much alive. Man did I get off that couch fast.
Broke her bed three times using it as a trampoline or jungle gym. We took the bed away and left just the mattress on the floor.
Drank a bottle of liquid hairspray. No harm. Drunk as a skunk.
She would randomly get on school buses just to see where they were going. When she was in kindergarten... Now believe me, you are in PANIC when the school can't find your five year old...
Went through 14 child care providers in the first five years of her life. They just basically said that there are alot of kids who pay the same and need less attention...
She's 16 now. All that and much much more was done by age 5. She did mellow out. She's graduating one full year early and intends to be a psychologist (grades to back it up). The best thing you can do with kids like this is to keep them from harmful things, keep watch constantly, RUN IF YOU HEAR SILENCE THIS IS THE WORST, and find them something to keep busy with all of the time.
Shelby is very much my child. I did the same stuff as a kid. All part of who you are. Our son is much mellower - takes after Steve. Thank heavens...
angela