Maddie Madness

I know that no two siblings are the same, and that is definitely the case between Maddie and Emma. I hope that Maddie will soon outgrow this stage when she turns 4 next month, but I am not holding my breath. Here are two Maddie stories that happened within 12 hours of each other. Last night at around 9:30 I heard the pitter patter of little feet and went upstairs to investigate. Maddie's light was on and when I opened the door, she was sitting on the floor playing with her Fisher Price Alphabet Animal Zoo. That may not have been too bad, except for the fact that I had her pick it up and put it in her closet 45 minutes before. So again, I told her to pick it up, put it away, turn off the light and go to bed, and she just sits there looking at me like I am a moron. Then jump forward to noon today. Don came home for lunch and was looking in the refrigerator for the lunch meat that he bought the day before at Kroger, and he couldn't find it. So, we both start looking for it and still can't find it, and then I look at Maddie, and she has this look on her face. So I ask Maddie what happened to the meat and she starts crying. Don is yelling because we need to find it because it will smell and attract mice... So, again, I ask Maddie where it is, and she leads me downstairs, but it isn't there. So we come back upstairs to the kitchen and Don starts asking her about it. Still crying, she takes Don upstairs to her room and pulls back the covers and there it is. We have no idea when she took it up there and exactly how much she ate, but at least we found it.

Now, on a good note, she is potty trained. We are still working out the wiping of the bum thing, but otherwise, she is doing well.

So, if anyone has any suggestions (besides beatings) as to how to handle a soon to be 4 year old, please let me know. Also, if you know of any way to keep them out of the refrigerator, besides a log chain, your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)