Be Like a Dog Chewing a Bone

Isaiah has this fascination with going after and chewing shoes and dog toys. Last week when he was only belly crawling a few feet it wasn't that bad to keep moving them.  Zoey was the primary issue as she would bring the toys to him.  I think it's all part of her poodle ploy to get me to take them and throw them. This week my 5-month old crawler is able to get from one end of the room to the other very easily.  I'm going to have to get some new baby gates.  Once he has his mind set on getting to something, he will not give it up.  He loves to try and chew on Daddy's shoe laces, my crocs, my flip-flops, and Zoey's dog toys.  It's bizarre.  They can't taste very good at all! I always stop him before he chew them.

Today was interesting.  Isaiah spent all his waking moments crawling away from his toys and toward the forbidden items.  I move the shoes and toys out of his eye-line several times.  I even hid the shoes out of sight and he crawled around until he spotted the new location. Elijah tried to help me by taking the shoes away from him and replacing it with Isaiah's blue blanket.  He moved Daddy's big shoes only a foot away and dropped the blanket on Isaiah's outstretched arm.  Then, to really drive home the point, he stood between the shoes and Isaiah and then said "no brother, No shoes."  Isaiah just looked at him, grinned, and tried to reach for the shoes again.  I intervened at this point and put back in the middle of the living room and as far away from the shoes as possible.  I was sure to congratulate Elijah on a job well done.  Noah and I both told him how he was such a good helper and such a good big brother!  He was quite pleased with himself.  Clearly the praise worked because not 30 minutes later, Isaiah was trying to get to Zoey's stuffing free bunny and Eljah intervened again.  It's missing a face and I really don't see what the appeal is.  Elijah carefully scooped up the faceless fluffless bunny and replaced it with a baby teether - he told Isaiah that "no Zay-uh, this is for Zoey."  So cute.

I decided the next time he went for the toys I would snap some photos for memory's sake. Maybe my little guy thinks he is a puppy and not a baby boy.  I didn't have to wait very long for a picture.  The dog toys reappeared at his side with Zoey standing nearby.....

Now that I've got my funny photo, Zoey has lost access to her toys and all the shoes have been put in a bin by the front door.  This should stop him for a while at least!