You know how, at school, you'd hear the teachers always refer to that one kid as "the troublemaker"?
The mums at the school gates would see that kid coming and whisper about them, about how they hoped their kids didn't play with that kid because of what a bad influence they were?
Well...I fear I may have "that child".
Now before you say anything, I KNOW he's only a baby - he's 18 months old for goodness sake, how can he possibly be a trouble maker already?!
And I KNOW I shouldn't be putting labels on him because he'll only end up living up to them if we expect him to....blah blah blah.
But hear me out....
Noah knows exactly what he's doing.
Whenever he does something naughty or mischievous, he looks at you with this glint in his eyes and gives you a knowing little half-smile that says "Yep, I know I'm supposed to be doing this...come on woman, what are you gonna do about it?!"
Maybe we were just very very fortunate with Tyne that he didn't really push any of the usual boundaries that you hear about toddlers pushing...he gave us a pretty easy of time of things actually!...but boy, is his little brother making up for it!
In the past few weeks, Noah has managed to:
*Open the baby gate on more than one occasion and get all the way upstairs without any of us noticing - this means he had to have done it at LIGHTNING speed because one minute he was there and the baby gate was closed, the next minute you hear noises upstairs and when you glance over...the baby gate is open and he's up there! How?! How does an 18 month old open a baby gate?!
*Scale his cot and wander out onto the landing - Lately Noah has decided bedtime is for losers, and protests loudly every single night. On one particular night last week he decided that he would take matters into his own hands, and after putting him down to bed I came downstairs to hear a massive THUD ... I run back up the stairs to find him emerging from his bedroom as though it's the most normal thing in the world. How?! How did you manage to scale the cot?!
*Escape from his car seat straps - again, I do not know how this is even possible, all I know is that I turned around to look at him one day after buckling him in and his straps were off! Luckily he hasn't done it since and I have no idea how he managed it in the first place, seriously the child should be studied...he is most definitely some kind of evil genius!
He hates holding a grown ups hand and instead wants to run free wherever we go ...which of course we don't allow so he throws himself onto the floor in a tantrum and planks so that we can't move him, he makes himself as stiff as a board when we try to put him into his pushchair and screams louder than any child I have ever heard.
Instead of his older brother influencing him into being more sensible, he is ABSOLUTELY the biggest influencer in the house and Tyne thinks he is hilarious...he laughs his head off at the scrapes Noah gets in to and the "naughty" things he does, and sort of hero worships him! And insists on copying too...so whenever Noah is doing something mischievous, you can guarantee Tyne is right behind him following suit!
He NEVER looks clean...no matter how many baths he has, no matter how clean his clothes are when I put them on him, no matter how many times a day his outfit is changed, no matter how many baby wipes I scrub him with...he always looks mucky...because he is always getting into things he shouldn't, always going a bit mad, always being a little monster.
His laugh reminds me a little bit of Vincent Price at the end of the Thriller video, and I swear he gets an evil glint in his eyes whenever he stands on my toes and I yell "ouch"....
And it's not just me who's noticed it...everyone is always pointing out that "He'll be the one to turn your hair grey" and he's going to be "the troublesome one"....
Thankfully he also has his sweet side, and loves to give lots of cuddles and kisses, just a glance at him with his baby brother is enough to show you what a sweetheart he is really...
But I have to admit, right at this moment in time...I am envisioning a future full of phonecalls from headteachers!
Noah Reve, what an absolute little monkey you are!
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