The Rise of the Destructor!

When I was a kid we had a sandbox in our backyard.  I would construct fortifications and build entire towns from upside-down cups, and populate them with Star Wars figures and Adventure People.  Then I'd drag out the garden hose and drown them all in a torrential flood.  As C-3PO and Chewbacca's screams were muffled by the collapsing town, I'd pick their sand-caked bodies out of the sludge, rinse them off, and set them aside while the sandbox drained, and I prepared my next disaster.

This must be where my daughter gets it from. 

Our delightful, well-mannered daughter does not build things.  She tears them down.  We've moved our floor plant into our bedroom now that all the lower leaves have been torn off.  The morning paper is shredded in an explosion of crinkling confetti.  And the toys...don't even get me started on the toys.

Our new favorite game is Daddy teaching her to stack blocks or cups to build a tower.  It goes something like this:

"Look Cheeky.  I've stacked one...two...three...four cups together.  Watch how I do it."

Karate chop!  The cups scatter.  I fetch them.

"Let's try it again.  See how fun it is to build?  One...two..."

Arm swipe cuts through the middle of the pyramid.  The cups scatter.  I fetch them.

"Oh no!  Ka-Pow!  So fun!  You did it!  Now, let's try to stack them again.  Boys destroy things, but pretty girls like you want to build them and make them pretty, right?"

Cheeky grabs a cup, looks up at me, smiles, and sling-shots it so far across the room that I can still hear it rolling under the dining room table and into the den a minute later. 

Is this the new face of destruction and chaos?  Believe it!

Comments

[mo-wo]

Holy crap -- did you take her to the Elizabeth Arden counter before that photo??? She is sooooo very very good looking.

And, then...

What you're telling me the don't all do that? Uh-oh.

Finally, I used to have access to a super extra deluxe sandbox in our backyard as a kid. My dad brought home weird plywood samples home from his work for us to play with in it. The way they looked would make you think they were sorta like Lego.. or maybe the principle was more akin to those at work in the Lincoln Log construction sets. But they were not actually toys or in fact very useful for construction. Uhm, they did not in fact 'go' together. I believe right from there I lost an important opportunity to understand how connections are really made. Man, my dad was cheap! Just a thought. It's on topic, right?

[Phat Daddy]

Oh man...it gets better. Just wait!

[Chocolate Makes it Better]

I we thought we could get away from all that stuff by having girls?

Hah i tells you HAH HA double HAH

Kayla bear loves nothing more than some block destruction resulting in crap everywere and lots and lots of noise!

[the weirdgirl]

If that's the face of destruction it's an awfully CUTE one! (I can just see her stomping Tokyo! But that's OK they'll be too distracted by that smile.)

[chelsyliz]

at least she's an adorable new face of destruction. what a darling destruct-o doll face.

[AdventureDad]

She sure looks like the definition of pure evil in the last photo.... :-)
We've had stages of this behavior as well. Sometimes Daniel is very patient and wants to build a tall tower. Then he tears it down. Other times he's just in a destructive mode and throws toys all over the place. I just depends on what mood he's in. One good thing is that he's always very genlte with the important stuff. The cameras, Bose system, flowers, computer,glasses, etc. Never a problem.
I've read that this kind of behavior is needed for them to realize the very basivcs of physics. That's obvious to us but may not bee so obvious to a little toddler/infant.

Adorable photo. Your wife must be hot, I don't remember you being that good looking :-)))

Have a great week

AD

[MetroDad]

Awwww, Cheeky! Absolutely adorable, my friend. And just you wait! Like PhatDaddy says, it only gets worse. Pretty soon everything in your apartment is going to be positioned at eye level. You're going to think you're safe but that's when the climbing starts. Destruction knows no bounds!

[p-man]

I feel like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man has come to the internet if that makes any sense. Maybe it doesn't.

Umberto Eco said that analogy is the first form of dishonesty (if I have that right, which I probably haven't, but I hope I'm close) so on that note: the new face of destruction and chaos is cute.

[Mrs. Chicky]

Maybe she's just getting ready for her debut as the first female player in MLB! Well, maybe the second. I'm grooming Chicky Baby to play first base for the Red Sox.

Cheeky is too cute! But I do feel like we're in the middle of a David Letterman Oscar skit "Cheeky, Chicky. Chicky, Cheeky."

[kara]

ah, yes. a face that cute + super destructive powers= parents who are doomed.

every so often, i look around and remember, with fondness, how clean our home was before the kiddo became mobile. by her first birthday, every picture frame, knick nack, and book was crammed into the upper shelves of our bookcases. she's six now, but i'm still waiting for her to outgrow that messy/ destructive phase.