Mischief-Making and Imagination

Now that the Mini is very mobile--she's been an on-the-knees crawler since the Munch's birthday--she's become quite the little mischief-maker.  She LOVES to get into just about anything she can.  She's taken to pulling out pots and pans, dish cloths, and canned food from my lower, as yet unlocked kitchen cabinets and drawers any time I'm cooking, and until I figured out how to lock the magnetized little cabinet set that I keep my craft stuff in, she was constantly pulling things out of there, too.  Or, she goes to the garbage and recycling bins, and starts yanking things out of those.  Or she gnaws on our shoes.  Or plays with the long blinds on the back window and gets them all out of wack.  If I tell her no-no, she smiles, shakes her head in a vigorous 'no', and reaches for the no-no again.  And that's just when she's in the kitchen.

I've managed to get pictures of a few of the larger messes she's made, as well as some other funny 'being-a-pest' moments.  Sometimes the Munch is so helpful that she starts cleaning up the Mini's messes before I can grab the camera--I won't complain!!  But here are a few that the Munch didn't (or couldn't) take care of right away:

Sitting on Stevie's tail while she enjoys a good book.

Testing how far she can push me before I'll take her away from the box of older kids' books that I brought up from the basement to sort through.  See how innocent she looks...until my back is turned!

We all know what's happening here.  :)  And it happens without fail every single time she finds the kitchen floor to be free of clutter...

Trying to be one of the kitty cats.  We weren't fooled.

This has been the hardest and most annoying to guard against since it's in the main part of the house.  The first time it happened, of course, it was funny and adorable.  The hundredth time?  Not so much...And I can't put a latch on this because a) the doors are too thin for a screwed in latch, and b) the cats will chew on anything that gets fastened around the handles...

It's gotten harder to get a good picture of her lately...

She's almost as bad as the cats.  I say 'almost' because THEY don't just unroll the toilet paper...they also eat it.  

Meanwhile, while the Mini is learning to explore the world in new and creative ways, the Munch is expanding her place in the world by using her own new and creative ways:

Upside-down.

Playing at the table instead of on the floor...so a certain little sister won't mess things up!

She became completely attached to a box that diapers came in.  It was a boat, car, bus, bed, airplane, hiding place, and I don't even remember what else, but there were a couple of really off-the-wall ideas that she put onto that box.  She played with it until the sides fell off. :)

Choko was less than impressed at being named her new clothing rack.

She asks me to take a picture of her, and then gives me this...

But then she also gives me fun pictures like this!  :)  By the way, have you noticed how she almost always tilts her head to one side for a photo now?  Not sure where that came from... ;)