day seventeen | i love that my step daughter can teach me things

Duct tape: n. A usually silver adhesive tape made of cloth mesh coated with a waterproof material, originally designed for sealing heating and air-conditioning ducts.

It's a fact: life is never boring with young children.

Of course, in this situation, I wouldn't mind if life was a little less interesting.

On Saturday we had visitors. I fed the boys, and had everything ready for my guests' arrival. The boys stopped long enough to meet the New People, then it was sleep time for them. Noah was reaching hyperactivity point while Madison's lids were needing a good shut eye.

The afternoon was fun. We laughed and had a great time. And when I checked on the boys, although they were awake, they were quiet enough. And I thought that soon they might go to sleep. Then complete silence.

It wasn't until my guests were leaving when I heard Noah cry. When I went to get him, Madison wasn't there. I found him in my bedroom sitting in the middle of the bed.

Wearing a very guilty look on his face.

Once my guests left, there was a more thorough investigation.

Artwork on my bedroom linen again.

The windows were also murky. Glue Stick.

Then came the clincher. My bedroom cupboard door was open and half my shoes were missing.

Shoe collection. Heating duct.

Then I spent the next 2 hours removing dried glue from the window, and shoes from the duct.

But that wasn't all. While I was muttering insane mummy thoughts under my breath, I also discovered that other things were missing.

Femine hygiene products.

Boxes of them.

This is probably the time to share that this all happened while my husband was away. (Is it just me, or do things like this happen only when husbands are away?)

So this afternoon, I was telling my step daughter Leah about Madison's latest adventures (which she is always interested in hearing). And being a Lady of Action, she warned me of the dangers of having these sorts of items in the ducts, and how they had to be removed immediately. (Did I mention that as part of her current job, she assists in ducted heating maintenance?)

Under the house we went. She undid all the duct work in the bedroom while I got really, really dirty (and played Tampon and Sanity Pad Treasure Hunt).

Oh what fun.

To cut a very long story short, because there was movement of the ducts, there was also a blockage at the fan, so we had to undo the duct at the motor too.

But after a couple of hours, and some master guidance and instructions from my step daughter, we finally removed all the goodies from the duct (see picture above).

And remember, this is what was left after the shoes were all taken out.

Repeat after me (often and loudly): Leah is the best. Leah is the best. Leah is the best...

And to convince myself (often and quietly): Madison is just curious. Madison is just curious. Madison is just curious...