Everything Must Be Open

Calfgrit9 cannot close anything. I don’t think he even has a concept of the idea of “close.” I’m not talking about just the front door when he goes out or comes in, which is the standard/stereotype for almost all children. I mean everything and anything. If a thing has an open and a closed state, he will always leave it in the open version. I think things open for him when he just walks through the house.  It’s like he has a poltergeist following him everywhere he goes.

This is his chest-of-drawers in his bedroom.

If I close the drawers at night when I put him to bed, it’s all open again after he gets dressed in the morning. I’ve told him he’d have more room for playing in his room if he closed the drawers, but it doesn’t matter.

In the mornings, he usually goes downstairs to the kitchen on his own and makes his breakfast — either a bagel, or some microwave pancakes, or a whole bag of Goldfish if he thinks he can get away with it. And every morning when I or Wifegrit goes downstairs, we find the kitchen “open” in every way possible. Saturday morning I took a pic of the usual situation.

For me to get to the refrigerator, I had to move or close several things, or else dodge and weave through it all. The kitchen desk chair was pulled out to the middle of the floor, the desk drawer was pulled open, the pantry door was open, the dishwasher was open, and the microwave door was open, and even the package of frozen pancakes was left open on the counter. I’m sure the only reason the fridge/freezer door was closed is that it self shuts.

Yes, all these open items do drive me crazy. But I’m also concerned about safety. Like with his drawers. With them *all* open, the tall chest could tip over and hurt him. If someone had to move through the kitchen quickly, they’d run into half a dozen things in the way before putting out a fire or catching a falling glass or something. A fire marshal would totally shut down our home as a dangerous environment.

I really am a bit afraid that one day something will happen and someone will get hurt in some way because everything is left open. But aside from following my 9 year old around as he walks through the house, I don’t know how to get him to close stuff behind himself. Maybe we need an exorcist to visit and banish the spirit that seems to open everything in his wake.

Bullgrit