"I got the idea when I noticed the refrigerator was cold."
Abbie has made a nuisance of herself in the kitchen for most of her life. It started with the dishwasher. She’d crawl to it at top speed when she saw it open, pulling on the dish racks, poking around the silverware tray, and pulling out and chewing on utensils like the spoon I used for cereal six hours ago or that fork I used to hold raw chicken while cutting it last night. I clearly remember how annoying this phase was because the boys are at it right now.* Fortunately this phase ended after a couple months, as soon as she realized that moving dishes in and out of the washer qualified as a “chore.”
She has since taken her poking around tendencies to the cabinets and countertops. She loves to explore new places, examine the objects she finds, and leave them strewn about the kitchen floor. I learned to keep her out of the cabinets with cabinet locks, and off the counters by removing anything from the room that could be used as a stepstool, such as kitchen chairs, highchairs, or sleeping pets. For most of her life, though, there was one place in the kitchen that she hadn’t tried breaking into: The refrigerator.**
That changed a couple months ago when I walked into the kitchen and found her sitting on the floor with an open leftover container at her feet. She was snacking on last night’s spaghetti noodles. I laughed, put the container back in the fridge, and sent Abbie back to the living room to resume strewing her toys about the floor. I figured that if that’s the worst she does in the refrigerator, I’m in good shape.
Of course that wasn’t the worst she’s done. Toddlers always find a way to top their previous bad behavior. Today she opens the refrigerator door several times a day to remove all manner of food. She grabs milk, usually leftover from the sippy cup that I put back in the fridge after her last meal, but she’ll also grab the gallon jug, remove the lid, and drink from the carton if necessary. If there’s an open yogurt container leftover from lunch, she’ll dig her fingers into that, making a slightly smaller mess than she usually does at lunch. She likes to remove containers of whipped topping and eat from the tub with her fingers, which would make me angrier if Ellie and I hadn’t done the same thing as children. When she sees grapes, she likes to move them to the front of the fridge in a more convenient position for Ian, who has already learned to scramble for the fridge as soon as the door opens to gnaw on grapes.
When she tires of the refrigerator, she opens the freezer. The freezer door is up top, so in order to reach it she needs to slide a chair up to the unit, carrying one from another room if necessary. Inside she indulges her sweet tooth, usually on marshmallows.*** Recently she found my bag of chocolate chips inside the door. I pray she never finds my secret ice cream stash.
We’re doing our best to keep her out of there. I can hear the air circulating differently when the door is open, and often barge into the kitchen, sternly asking what she’s doing. I try to keep all chairs and lazy pets out of the kitchen. We just put an appliance lock on the door, so hopefully that’ll help until she removes the adhesive. Maybe I can make her believe that rearranging food qualifies as work.
* Well, they’re not at it right now. They’re sleeping right now, but there’s a good chance they’d wake up if they heard the dishwasher door click.
** Actually she hasn’t tried breaking into the oven, possibly because there’s nothing interesting in the oven. Even if she does, I’m not worried because there’s little she can do that’s harmful or annoying in the oven, unless I’m baking something, and with three young children in the house the odds of that happening are zilch.
*** Yes, we keep marshmallows in the freezer. It keeps them from melting into a quasi-congealed super marshmallow. Plus the texture of frozen marshmallows makes them an excellent snack.
She has since taken her poking around tendencies to the cabinets and countertops. She loves to explore new places, examine the objects she finds, and leave them strewn about the kitchen floor. I learned to keep her out of the cabinets with cabinet locks, and off the counters by removing anything from the room that could be used as a stepstool, such as kitchen chairs, highchairs, or sleeping pets. For most of her life, though, there was one place in the kitchen that she hadn’t tried breaking into: The refrigerator.**
That changed a couple months ago when I walked into the kitchen and found her sitting on the floor with an open leftover container at her feet. She was snacking on last night’s spaghetti noodles. I laughed, put the container back in the fridge, and sent Abbie back to the living room to resume strewing her toys about the floor. I figured that if that’s the worst she does in the refrigerator, I’m in good shape.
Of course that wasn’t the worst she’s done. Toddlers always find a way to top their previous bad behavior. Today she opens the refrigerator door several times a day to remove all manner of food. She grabs milk, usually leftover from the sippy cup that I put back in the fridge after her last meal, but she’ll also grab the gallon jug, remove the lid, and drink from the carton if necessary. If there’s an open yogurt container leftover from lunch, she’ll dig her fingers into that, making a slightly smaller mess than she usually does at lunch. She likes to remove containers of whipped topping and eat from the tub with her fingers, which would make me angrier if Ellie and I hadn’t done the same thing as children. When she sees grapes, she likes to move them to the front of the fridge in a more convenient position for Ian, who has already learned to scramble for the fridge as soon as the door opens to gnaw on grapes.
When she tires of the refrigerator, she opens the freezer. The freezer door is up top, so in order to reach it she needs to slide a chair up to the unit, carrying one from another room if necessary. Inside she indulges her sweet tooth, usually on marshmallows.*** Recently she found my bag of chocolate chips inside the door. I pray she never finds my secret ice cream stash.
We’re doing our best to keep her out of there. I can hear the air circulating differently when the door is open, and often barge into the kitchen, sternly asking what she’s doing. I try to keep all chairs and lazy pets out of the kitchen. We just put an appliance lock on the door, so hopefully that’ll help until she removes the adhesive. Maybe I can make her believe that rearranging food qualifies as work.
* Well, they’re not at it right now. They’re sleeping right now, but there’s a good chance they’d wake up if they heard the dishwasher door click.
** Actually she hasn’t tried breaking into the oven, possibly because there’s nothing interesting in the oven. Even if she does, I’m not worried because there’s little she can do that’s harmful or annoying in the oven, unless I’m baking something, and with three young children in the house the odds of that happening are zilch.
*** Yes, we keep marshmallows in the freezer. It keeps them from melting into a quasi-congealed super marshmallow. Plus the texture of frozen marshmallows makes them an excellent snack.
posted by Matt at
11:57 PM
1 Comments:
We had a freezer in the garage growing up. When our litle neighbor realized popsicles were in there he was always in it! The appliance lock worked like a charm. You should be fine.
Patty
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Anonymous, at 8:13 AM
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