Yay! He's Getting More Mischievious

Y'know that little pirate I talked about yesterday? Well, he's really been getting up to some mischief lately.

He's been trying to raid my drawers and cupboards for anything that might become a new toy. He just sieves through everything, looking for something or other of interest. One day, he got into my secret hiding place for all the Thomas activity books. He sure thought he stumbled upon treasure that day! (Don't worry, there is nothing dangerous that he can get into. Its just a pain having to put everything back.)

Another day, while I was busy blogging here, he was being extremely co-operative. He said he would "work on his scrap book". All the supplies and stuff were on the floor behind me and I could hear him humming away. When I was done, I turned around to find that instead of glueing his cutouts into his scrapbook, they were all stuck fast to the floor!

Then today, while Iwan, our driver, was in the house playing with Aaron a little while I found that all the pegs had been pulled apart. I thought they were sturdy little things but he somehow managed to pry them all into two.

Iwan just let out a big laugh at it. He seemed to pat Aaron on the back a little, sort of in a congratulatory way. Then he says to me "He's just going to get more and more naughty. Its great! Much better than if he just sat there being quiet."

He said it with so much enthusiasm and pride that initially, I looked at him and thought to myself "Sheesh. Only a guy would say this. Someone who doesn't have to spend the day with the children!". I know that its good for children to be curious about the world around them and of course, that was what Iwan was getting at anyway. He just put it in a way that I didn't expect.

Anyway, the attitudes of people here towards children have always made a very strong impression on me. I always marvel at how almost everybody you meet is a child friendly person. Everyone seems to have a way with kids. And, all of them appear to be incredibly tolerant of all sorts of behavior. I frequently hear them saying "Oh, he's just a child" or "Kids are kids" no matter what the child is doing. They just seem so understanding of all the development that children go through. (By the way, I doubt there is such a thing as controlled crying of any babies here. If they have trouble sleeping and cry, they're just immediately picked up and soothed.)

So, while Aaron gets more mischievous by the day, I'm trying to take a more light hearted approach to it and laugh at most (not all) of his antics. Its less stressful for everyone and he does see the reasoning most of the time. I don't want to be one of those mothers that throws a fit over every little thing. I'm still not Indonesian though so if its anything defiant or unreasonable, there will still be consequences. Ha! Ha!