I Made a Terrible Mistake

Colby gave his mother another rough night so he and I are entertaining ourselves. We've made the rounds in his play room, but mostly Colby is practicing his new forward crawl. Eventually I needed to use the restroom and leave Colby alone. Usually in these situations Colby gets in his jump-a-roo so we know exactly where he is. However, this time I decided he was happy and I could know he was fine by hearing him. So I put away the 3 pop-up "Friends" books he was after all morning, hid the construction book, put away my coffee and Eyes, Ears and Nose (although I'd be ok if he wrecked that one). I thought it was safe to leave - I was wrong.

I wasn't gone long, but it was long enough. When I returned I realized I had forgotten Colby's #1 target - "The Little Green Turtle". This pop-up book has been Colby's favorite book since we bought it on Father's Day. It has very large pop-ups of lions, elephants, zebras, turtles, etc. Every time we read it he reaches out for whatever nose, leg, neck or head is closest.

It had been tucked away in the bookshelf when I left and I simply had not thought of it - but Colby definitely did. As soon as I left he must have dropped to his belly and rolled to the bookshelf like a scene out of "Die Hard". He knew what he was doing, and singled out the Turtle book and quickly pulled it from the shelf. Next I imagine he rifled through the pages deciding on who his first victim would be. The Lion had startled him just last night, but the flamingo always taunted him as just out of reach. The elephant had lots to grab onto, he had come so close with the turtle before and the giraffe would have been easy pray, but no... the zebra would pay for my mistake. The poor poor zebra.

So as I returned Colby had the book opened on his belly, spread out with the big pop-up rain cloud scene like a scene from some movie where the criminals roll around in the money the stole. As he lay there he was gnawing on the dismembered leg of the Zebra, whose neck he had also slashed. Somehow he pierced the binding of the book as well. Unprovoked savagery!

It could have been worse, but this will be a real challenge for Daddy's Fix-It shop. I apologize to Colby for leaving him alone at all and won't do it again.