How Can a Chair Cause so Much Trouble?

Several weeks ago, most likely while I was watching Jeopardy! (I have yet to make it through even a single round undisturbed), the following discussion took place.

Sumie:  Hon!  Come here, quick!


Steve:  What?


Sumie:  You've got to see this!


Steve:  I've got to see what?  (I didn't really want to see anything at that point.)


Sumie:  I just taught Mimi something.  


Steve:  You just taught Mimi what?  (It's amazing how often this kind of conversation occurs from opposite rooms of our, thankfully, small home.)


Sumie:  Just come here.  You have to see what she can do with her chair!


I walked down the hall and into Mimi's bedroom.  There I saw a pugnacious and overjoyed bundle of energy stretching tiptoe on her little chair, gleefully flicking her bedroom light on and off.  

Sumie:  Isn't it amazing?  All I had to do was bring the chair over here, put her on top, and show her how to flick the light.  


Steve (not exactly overjoyed):  Yes, that is fantastic...  Hey, um, where's she going with that chair...

Where she went was, of course, the kitchen.  The most dangerous room in the home.  Within half an hour Mimi learned that, thanks to her chair, she can access almost everything that Mama and Papa had previously put off limits.  Mimi now roams the house with her little chair actively seeking out the most expensive, breakable, susceptible to toddler spit, dangerous, toxic, staining, or irreplaceable items previously out of reach.  Below, we find Mimi ascending her chair.  What could she be after? 

If you guessed toddler-scalding hot water, you're right!  Mimi is overjoyed at this new prospect for inflicting searing pain and costly injuries upon herself when her parents' backs are turned.  

Granted, the chair isn't always used for evil.  Mimi often just wants to help out.  Here she is attempting to wash her spoon (which happened to be clean)...

...and  helping Mama wash veggies for dinner.  Yes, Mimi's assistance is still more hindrance than help, but, I have to admit, sometimes it's rather cute. 

Before Mimi discovered how to use her chair for mischief, Sumie and I thought we had the house fairly well baby-proofed.  How wrong we were.  Let's take the kitchen as example.  Previously, the worst Mimi could do was ransack the Tupperware drawer.  Now she can get into almost everything.  So far we've had to either push back or relocate the following:

• hot water pot
• bills and important notices
• knives and cutting boards (when preparing foods)
• our machete collection
• the AK-47 and the vintage Thompson sub-machine gun (well, let's face it, we've had to remove all our automatic weapons from the kitchen)
• Sumie's open-beaker assortment of hydrochloric acid
• and, last but not least, my William and Kate commemorative flamethrower (lighting the stove will be far less fun)

Even with all the changes, and the additional anxiety, it's been fun watching Mimi discover her first real tool.  This simple device, a portable step, has literally opened up a new world for Mimi, and she's having a ball exploring it.  Yes.  She's learning how to manipulate the world around her to get what she wants.  Much like she's already done for years with her parents.