Curiosity or Mischief?

Daniel is into everything these days. Wherever his little legs can carry him, that's where he wants to be. Up and down steps, in and out of rooms, over and under furniture. Thank goodness for babyproofing -- gates, cabinet locks, and outlet covers keep him safe and me sane. But he still manages to find a loophole. There's always some uncharted territory for him to explore (usually one that I never could've anticipated). Recently, he's become fascinated by the floor vents in each room. Since the grates are not screwed down, he's figured out how to remove them. it's a perfect hiding place for Daniel's treasures. Our Comcast remote disappeared for a week or so; it was found only when I observed Daniel "rescuing" it from one of these floor vents. After countless scoldings on my part, he continues to explore the vents. At this point, is he still seeking to satisfy his curiosity, or is he drawn to the vents for the sole purpose of pushing my buttons? Does he understand the concept of "mischief," or is he simply an innocent explorer?

Another place with which Daniel is obsessed is the dishwasher. Not only can he open and close it, he can lock and unlock the handle. It's a no-win situation. As soon as the door is down, there's no power on Earth great enough to keep him from touching the silverware. It's shiny! It's sharp! The knives are of particular interest to him (and the cause of a near-heart attack on my part -- the first time he pulled one out, he started running across the kitchen with the knife in his hand -- makes running with scissors seem like child's play). I had to start putting the knives on the top rack to keep them away from Daniel's hands. But he still likes to climb onto the open door and pull out the coffee mugs, to my chagrin.

The list of favorite objects goes on and on: the Diaper Genie (I've even caught him sticking his hand in and pulling out dirty wipes -- no diapers, thank goodness!), Ollie's food and water bowls (poor Ollie, his bowls spend half the day out of reach), my wallet (self-explanatory, only going to get worse as he gets older), any working telephone which we are too careless to place out of his reach, remote controls (he's inadvertently cancelled one too many TiVo recordings for it to be funny anymore), and basically anything else he's not supposed to touch. I truly believe that curiosity is an important trait for a little boy to have. I don't want to believe that Daniel goes directly to these objects with the intention of driving me crazy. But the Diaper Genie? Seriously. There's nothing in there even remotely worth checking out.