Wow-I've so much catching up to do here. Our little family has been busy since I last wrote. I will catch up more on that later. For now I have to recount what happened Monday morning when I woke up. I had heard Aiden out in the living room/kitchen for a couple of minutes prior to getting up-heard some banging of cupboards and I thought, water running. 

So I got up and just as I walked into the kitchen I was in time to see him leaning to the side and over the stovetop, trying to turn it on!!!!!!! I don't think he knows how to get the oven set as they are buttons but he does know how to turn the dials for the burners! 

...SIGH... and DOUBLE SIGH....

What is a Mom supposed to do with a little boy who has so much independence that he feels he can make a "cake" on his own? Which, in fact is what he had done. He has been on a "can we make a cake?" binge lately. He just loves to mix up the ingredients and once or twice we've let him do that making a "homemade" cake from scratch. So, he had already done that when I got to the kitchen as well as mixed it all up, put it in the pan and IN THE OVEN!

SIGH....

After scolding and then explaining (he burst into tears right away almost as soon as he heard me get the "NO Sir" out of my mouth, he knew he was so wrong) we talked about it. I didn't freak out on him b/c that wouldn't have done either of us any good.

So, on errands in town that day I purchased a set of hook and eye locks. It can go on the outside of his door.

Not something that I want to do... at all. But, we have to be able to do something here or this little boy is going to hurt himself somehow.

So that night I showed him the locks and we talked again about what had happened in the morning and why it was so bad.  He already had to tell Collin himself what had gone on. After discussing with Collin we decided to give him another chance. With the threat of the locks he knows now that he can only go into the front room where his toys are or he can stay in his room and read or play. If he fails to do these things, if he even gets into one cupboard in the kitchen or the refrigerator while we are still in our room- the lock goes up.

The threat is real for him and he was pretty much horrified by the idea of the lock on his door so... let's cross our fingers here and hope that his 5 year old impulsive mind doesn't get the better of him one morning! I am seriously crossing mine!