Oh, the collective minds of two year olds! We are really in for some good months to come.
Just as soon as our little boys both turned two, we got a glimpse of the capacity of the collective minds of two year olds. One evening a few weeks ago, after a normal long day, I was going to do my normal nightly laundry routine. I was particularly content that evening because I had just emptied the laundry chute and the hamper the day before. I knew that I would only have one load and that there would only be a few pieces of clothes in the chute, just some of the stuff from that day. Boy, was I in for a huge surprise!
I opened the doors to the laundry chute (the chute empties from the second floor into a double cabinet over the washer) and it was JAM PACKED FULL!!! All the way to the TOP of the chute on the second floor!!! Can you imagine?! I was expecting an empty cabinet and instead it was fuller than I ever thought it could be. I couldn’t even open both cabinet doors; it would have all come tumbling down on me.
After the initial shock, I looked at the contents and realized that it was made up of blankets, sheets, pillows and towels. And, they were mostly still folded. Aahh Hahh – all clean stuff (one small sigh of relief!). Then I realized that it looked a lot like the contents of the linen closet from upstairs. Now, I had been home all day and I had been with the kids all day and I had put them to bed that night (same hallway as the linen closet). After the discovery in the chute, I went upstairs to see what or how or whatever may have occurred and WHO had done it! Nothing…no sign, no trace, no evidence. There was not one piece of linen or clothing anywhere in the hallway, not even sticking out of the laundry chute – clean as a whistle. Hummm??? The linen closet – EMPTY!!! The entire contents of the bottom two/thirds of the double wide linen closet (at least 5 ft wide) were cleaned out! (First clue…the high part was untouched?!)
I could only laugh! And try not to cry…. And wait till the next morning. All the kids were asleep, so I couldn’t ask anyone if they had done it or if they knew who did it. And, the thought of tackling all that linen that late at night was completely out of the question. I went to bed scared! Who had done it? Who was capable of doing it and not leaving any evidence? When had they done it? That was my main fear…how did I not know that it had happened. What was I doing when all the dumping had occurred???
The next morning, I politely and unsuspectingly asked each of my older children if they knew ANYTHING about the incident. No…no…no…no…no…no…OH NO!! Six very innocent and clueless No’s. That meant that my biggest fear of who had done it was TRUE. My two little 2 y/o’s had done it! All by themselves, no one around, no one instigating, no evidence left, and completely under my nose!!! How did this happen? It’s not like I left the house or took a nap or hid in the basement for any period of time. Somehow, they had completely emptied as much of that closet as they could reach in complete stealth mode. We are SOOO in for it! Up until then, whenever they got into anything or did something they considered fun, they would laugh and giggle. They would laugh so much; you always wanted to join them in the mischief. But not this time…No – they went stealth, incognito, and silently achieved the ultimate stunt. Did I mention that we are SOOO in for it!!
I now know when they did it. It had to be when I was cooking dinner and Daddy was upstairs in the bonus room. I remember hearing them just a little, just enough to think that they were playing nicely and did not need to be watched. Haa! Got that one wrong! The kitchen is just at the bottom of the stairs and the linen closet and the chute are just beside the top of the stairs, out of sight but still at the top. It had happened right there, I was just “around the corner”. They left no sign, no indication of the stunt, they did not even leave the chute door cracked open a little. We are SOOO in for it!!!
