Tuesday 21 September 2010

Handling quicksilver

Okay, dear visitors to PB, so now you have an idea of some of the PB essentials. It's probably time I chatted a little bit more about the pixies. Let's start with the youngest first. Until I dropped a mercury thermometer on the concrete floor in chemistry class one day, I didn't know what 'quicksilver' was. Then, as I chased those little silver balls all over the floor in the vain (and ultimately unsuccessful) effort to clean up before the teacher saw, I understood. They moved like greased lightning and were extremely hard to catch, darting this way and that with ease.
Isn't quicksilver beautiful?
I now handle quicksilver on a daily basis.  His name is Sam.

Oh, to be one and so curious again!  Nothing is beyond him.  He forgets nothing. He remembers exactly where to go to find something I have neglected to remove from his reach.  Even if it was weeks ago. Or even months.

He reaches his pudgy little fingers under my desk to fish out a roll of wrapping paper I have carefully hidden right up the back and unfurls it with a flourish, grinning from ear to ear. He pulls open drawers and tosses out the contents with gay abandon.  He races over to the bathroom on all fours, bottom wiggling in the air, opens the sliding door, stands up, reaches my mascara, crawls back in to show me he has it and then as soon as I exclaim "You scallywaggle!" and wave my finger at him, he chuckles and scampers away, mascara clutched in his chubby little hand.  All of this in about 10 seconds flat.  Yes, quicksilver.

Here he is, caught in the act, rusk in one hand and rifling through my drawer with the other!
I really have to think ten steps ahead of him as his inquisitive little mind leads him to all sorts of places where a baby shouldn't be. I have to move Joshua's Playmobil pirate ship up onto his bed so he doesn't eat the pieces. We have latches on all the cupboards or shoelaces tying door handles together (mind you, the older pixies undo them for him as a joke on me). We have covers on all the powerpoints. His siblings know to remove anything dangerous from his grasp "so he doesn't choke and die, Mummy".

I know all the sounds he makes in his laps of the house and when to pounce on him when I hear a sound I don't like.  Bang, bang - woops, he's opening and closing the oven (I can only use it when he's asleep so he doesn't burn himself). Paper ripping - woops, time to get out the sticky tape to repair that library book. Plastic bag crunching - woops, get him out of that kitchen drawer where he's found the garbage bags (it seems the old 'let's-stretch-a-rubber-band-between-the-drawer-knobs-trick' is insufficient. More permanent measures are required.). I spring up at a millisecond's notice, ready to swoop to protect and retrieve, as required.

Today I found him rifling through my bedside table drawer, only to emerge brandishing my nail scissors. Another thing for me to put up higher in a 'safe place'. Every day, I have to empty the contents of our bedside tables and plonk them onto the bed to keep his pesky little cotton-picking fingers off them. I can't leave any plastic bags in open rubbish bins as he'd find them in a flash. I constantly scour the floorboards for something, anything, he could find and pop into that rosy red mouth of his. Especially those little plastic thingies which seal your loaves of bread. They equal instant death!

But I wouldn't have it any other way.  Even though he keeps me on the edge of my nerves through being eternally vigilant, he has such a zest for life and rambunctiousness which is both endearing and infectious.  I never know what's going to happen next.  God bless my little Quicksilver!

Jane

16 comments:

  1. ~*Darling post..he is so cute!!~*~* :)Rachel

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  2. Thanks, Rachel ☺ Capturing that look on his face was priceless. J x

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  3. I just love him. I love those infectious little imps - the particularly curious and inventive babies. He'll be a handful all his life, but won't the highs be high!! x

    PS - Max had those cute little bear shoes too. Faves.

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  4. Thanks, Bron! Yes, he's certainly not going to be a wallflower. I don't know if I've ever met a more inquisitive, active or mischievous little person at this age in all my life ☺ I certainly know I'm alive. Another expression which springs to mind when I'm trying to hold him is 'wrestling a bag of pythons'! Yes, the bear shoes are well-loved. They've all worn them! J x PS Loved your post today but I'm going to sit that one out and view it from the sidelines. I expect I'll post about that topic as well ☺

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  5. he's gorgeous Jane and i love all the little gum boots...

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  6. Hi Sarah! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting - he is a lovely little chap. And yes, the gumboots have been given a good workout, right at the end of what had been a mild winter, up until now. Your little chap is so delightful! I look forward to following your blog and seeing him grow up. J x

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  7. Hi Jane, thank you so much for your lovely comment!
    And your little boy is so sweet!!!!!
    Have a nice day,
    Yvonne

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  8. My pleasure, Yvonne - thanks for stopping by! And thankyou - he is a darling. I tried to email you on Sunday at the address on your blog, whiteblossom.studio@yahoo.com, but I think it was returned to sender. Or did you receive it after all? J x

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  9. life with inquisitive non-stop boys! i love it!

    my son is now 9 and can hone all his energy into endless....and i mean ENDLESS games of football {read soccer for you down under!}...

    but when they are that cute its hard to have anything but love for them!!

    lovely that you found me...

    melissa xx

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  10. I'm delighted to have found you as well, Melissa. Discovering your blog has made my day. And thanks for following! My goodness, I can't imagine the pixies being that old, let alone the boundless energy part. Eek - what lies ahead! J x

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  11. Oh Jane the oven door sounds a bit worrying! I have found it tricky managing all the tiny little toys that come with 3 and 4 year olds with an inquisitive and determined baby/toddler on the loose. And I imagine with 3 it must be completely impossible to watch him all the time.

    Do you ever have those discussions with Mr PB about what the pixies will do when they grow up? Sounds like Sam might be a research scientist!

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  12. Yes, Sarah, the oven is a pain. I am waiting until he learns to turn all the knobs on - it obviously wasn't designed by a parent. The joys of renting. Sigh. My mother keeps suggesting that we put him in a play pen "like I did with all you". No, not on PB.

    As for their futures, we haven't really but what we have started is a little Word document for each of them entitled "What I want to be when I grow up" which we update occasionally with whatever their plans are on that day. Joshie's entry for 11 September 2010 was 'palaeontologist, crafter (does lots of craft), docker, farmer and artist'. He has big plans! J x

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  13. Hey! Looks like we have similar interests; I also follows similar blogs to you and I have the same day job that you used too! Thanks so much for stopping by and saying hello xox

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  14. Hello LLCAOBT (I can't find your name!) Well, the world really gets smaller once you start blogging. My pleasure and same to you! J x

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  15. I think Quicksilver and my son Angus might be related. He was into EVERYTHING. And still is, just not as bad. And did you know you paint mercury up with a paintbrush. One thing I do remember from Mr Weir's Science Class.

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  16. No, I didn't Nessa - thanks for the hot tip! J x

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Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, you gorgeous soul. You've just made my day! J x

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