72-hours later ...(and the fate of the coffee table)

OK, OK ... they win. I know when I've been beat.

While I was at work, and using a wise tip from an "anonymous" on this blog (my mom) ... Charlie moved the coffee table away from the mantle. This meant that we were exposing the fireplace, one of our concern areas. The babies wasted no time opening the glass doors on the fireplace and climbing inside. Charlie, in desperation, duct taped the doors together. This did nothing. When our three babies put their minds to something and work together as a team ... they have the strength of a grown man.

The duct tape came off - the doors flew open - the babies climbed back in the fireplace. This has been dubbed their *new* play area. Charlie took the handles off the glass doors ... and now, the kids start smacking their toys against the glass. So, Charlie put them all to bed for a nap. Problem solved. He was only home with them for 1/2 the day ... I'd be home in a few minutes.

I come home. The problem is not solved, because the babies are starting to stir from their nap. So, I move the Little Tikes kitchen (courtesy of my sister Beth - I thank her everyday when I see it) in front of the fireplace. It blocks off the entire area very nicely. Charlie had moved the coffee table in to our front living room, but because the house is small to begin with - - it takes up the whole room and kills the feng shui we had going on. Plus, this is part of the "main drag" for ride on toys - - and the coffee table is a huge road block. I know the babies won't be happy.

So, I move the coffee table back in to the playroom. They can use it to roll their little cars around on, put their puzzles, on ... that kind of stuff. I suspect that they are also going to want to climb on it. I have mixed emotions about this. Part of me thinks that they are going to climb ANYWAY what does it matter? The other part of me thinks that:

1) when will I begin teaching them that it is not alright to climb on furniture, if not now? and...

2) I don't want them to get hurt. If we let them climb willy-nilly, I'm inviting disaster.

Sure enough, as soon as they are set loose in the playroom, they start climbing furniture. The first picture on this post is them within seconds of being put in the room. William and Carolyn were on the chair in a split second ... and boom - Elizabeth was on the coffee table. Once the other two saw Elizabeth on the coffee table - - they ran over and climbed on it, too. Here we go....

I was actually impressed that all three were able to get on and off of the table with relative ease. If I didn't know better I'd think they'd been practicing that maneuver all week. Oh wait - silly me, they have!!!

I was even more impressed with Elizabeth's ability to get on and off the table while holding lovey bunny. She's getting pretty attached to this little thing ... she didn't let him go the entire time she was up there.

They walked very carefully around the edge of the table, because I think they knew that one mis-step and they'd fall. We did have a couple spills. Elizabeth fell once and landed on her back - another time and landed on her tummy. Only the belly flop elicited a cry. William fell once on his back and laughed. Carolyn, ever so cautious, didn't fall at all.

I'm not sure what to do. People that have visited tell us "Get rid of the table and get a round one!" But, they'll climb on that, too. The chance of them getting hurt on an edge is decreased, but the chance of them falling off a round table and landing on their head still exists.

So here we are. Less than 72-hours after the saga of scrapping our plan to not use the word "NO" and dishing out our first spankings. All of this trauma to them - and to us - in an effort to keep our kids off the furniture.

We're losing this battle. Heck, we've already lost this battle. The flood gates have been open and three little monkeys are on the loose. That whole story of "monkey see, monkey do" couldn't be truer at our house. We've tried everything to keep them off the furniture - short of removing all the furniture from the house. We've tried "uh-huh", we've tried "NO!" ... we've even tried "kangaroo" ... "mongoose" ... "wildebeast" ... and "zebra". Nothing is working. Not getting down to their level and looking in their eyes - not repeatedly putting them down on the floor. Not even spankings. (Which we both feel bad about and have vowed not to repeat).

We are resigned to the fact that these actions are par for the course at this age. I guess we're OK with it since we don't have much of a choice. As soon as we think we've got stuff figured out, it changes again. And again. And again. Honestly - they weren't climbing on the furniture just 7 short days ago ... certainly not like THIS. I just hope and pray that we don't wind up in the ER because someone takes a nasty tumble. And ... if you have an issue with kids climbing on the furniture - - don't invite us to your house. At least not right now.