My Son, The Trickster

Archie is quite the trickster.  He plays countless tricks on us all the time.  Who knew such an innocent-looking child could come up with so many tricks? 

Some of his more recent ones:

Turn on the middle 'shower' nozzle in the bathtub.  We are all bath people rather than shower people.  So when one goes in to turn on the water to fill the tub, one gets icy cold water showered down their neck for the trouble.

I have a spray bottle of water I use to tame Lawrence's crazy hair in the mornings, as well as my own.  So Archie sometimes turns the nozzle on it to 'stream' instead of 'spray' where it should be.  Then I get beaned in the head with a stream of cold water. 

Whoopie Cushions placed in various strategic locations. 

Plastic Poop also placed in strategic locations...which he wets to make it look a little more realistic.

The rubber roach has lost it's practical joke value, since there are none of those nasty huge cockroaches here in Cincinnati.  But before our move, the roach made his appearance behind the shampoo bottle, next to plates, in the silverware drawer, etc.  It gave me heart failure every time. 

His tricks are simple, but very effective.  Recently, I had finished washing my bed sheets and quilts and had Phillip help me put them back on the bed.  Then I went to take a bath (minus the cold shower because I'm wise to that trick, mister!) before bedtime.

After I got out, I was getting ready for bed.  One of my 'house rules' is that after 10pm, unless there is something that absolutely CANNOT wait until the morning, or someone is frightened, or bleeding, etc., I am done for the night.  I was having a problem with Archie popping in and out of our room until midnight sometimes asking various questions and, in general, trying not to go to sleep.  So the 10pm rule came to be.  So after my bath, Archie kept popping in my room for silly reasons. It was after 10, and I fussed at him to go back to bed.  I seem to recall "don't get out of bed unless you are on fire" or something similar. 

I got in bed and began reading.  I was curled up, feet underneath me, reading away, when Phillip came up the stairs, looked at me and started snickering.  I asked him what was so funny, and he said it was something he and Archie had talked about earlier.  And he wouldn't tell me what it was.  So I went back to reading.  Phillip finally got into bed and we were talking about something.  Much later, I reached over to turn the light off and go to bed.  I stretch my feet down and...wait...what in the heck????  SOMEONE HAS SHORT-SHEETED MY BED!!!!  I'd been lying there for about an hour and never knew it!  No wonder Archie was so curious as to what was going on in my room!  He and Phillip had gotten together on this little trick.  Phillip says it's his inner MaryAnn coming out, as that is a trick that still rears it's ugly head in my Mom's family from time to time! 

Sometimes, I am lucky enough to find the trick 'plans'.  Here are some such plans:

This plan illustrates me coming down the stairs (stares in his drawing) and Archie is around the corner in the kitchen, where he pops out and sprays me with the water bottle.  Notice the check list below:  Spy on her and Splat! 

This plan wasn't a success because he wasn't patient enough, so I suspected something was going on because he kept popping into my room while I was nursing Lydia to sleep.  If he only gets the patience part down, there will be no stopping him!  Watch out world!