The terrible 2s...at 1!

Yusuf!
No Yusuf!
Noooo!
YUSUF!!!!

Thats all we seem to say in our house...and that's not only me! Even Sumayah has joined the no-yusuf brigade. Yes I know it's the age, the terrible 2s...oh but wait he's only a year and a half! So in other words the worst is still to come?!

Yusuf is that child that you cannot take your eyeball off for even 1 second. When I need to feed Uthmaan I find myself following Yusuf from room to room (Uthmaan firmly attached) just to make sure he's not catching up to mischief. He's ALWAYS catching up to mischief. If I decide to just make myself comfy and stay where I am, it will be a matter of seconds before I hear Sumayah shouts out 'Yusuf! Get off Bilaal's bed!' And then I have to go running to grab him one- handedly off the top bunk (Uthmaan still firmly attached). He is constantly opening cupboards to throw everything out, pushing buttons, turning dials, climbing into onto over under anything and everything. You can scold him, ask nicely, shout, slap on the bottom, distract him, silently take him away; tie things up, tie things down, hide things away, place things high; you can tie him in or lock him out...but somehow he still manages to get to where he wants to be and do the thing he wants to do! He can do something one second and you take him away and reprimand him and the next second he does the very same thing. It can be exasperating to say the least. The main thing is to see him at all times. He is able to achieve maximum naughtiness in a very short space of time. For instance, today I decided to make muffins. While the muffins were in the oven I saw him run into the kitchen. I immediately ran after him to keep him away from the oven. I grabbed hold of him just as he was running pass the oven toward the scullery. Potential danger averted I go back to what ever it is I was doing. A short while later I smell the muffins burning, yet the timer hadn't finished yet?! So I go check and find that the muffins were charred on the top and then I notice that the dial had been turned to grill! In that second that he ran pass the oven he managed to turn the oven dial to grill without me knowing. So we now have a batch of headless bran muffins courtesy of Yusuf. He is also so incredibly quick at climbing on to the top bunk. He scurries up the end of the bed and with a look of complete exhiliration he proceeds to walk on the bed and smiles his naughty 'I know I shouldn' t be up here' smile. There certainly is no end to the crazy with Yusuf around...and next thing you know Uthmaan is going to be following his lead to give us double the trouble...now THAT is the real meaning of the terrible 2s!