Shut doors

I am always telling the kids the doors are not allowed to be shut, that is the rule. I do not want kids being shut out or left out, I want to know what is going on just by walking past. It is less danger of fingers getting slammed, and it is simply a rule I enforce. Though, there is one exception to this rule. When I put the girls to bed their door HAS to be shut. For one reason: if it is not Mique will come up in the middle of the night and repeat "I want up" over and over until she burrows her way into our bed (usually while I am feeding Isaac, so there are two kids too many.) Last night we experienced other reasons why. After Grant got home from Young Men's he went down to talk to the girls (and boys) since they were not asleep. He apparently does not know the drill and left the door open. When I went down to tuck them in before I went to bed I found Mique with a brand new package of rubber bands (the tiny ouchless kind from walmart) 6 colors at least a hundred of each, probably more like 150 of each color spread all over the bed and floor. I checked her wrists (she has been known to put them on there) and picked up as many as I could. She also had the toothpaste in there, a stacking cup smeared with toothpaste all on the inside. She had it all over her hands and face and of coarse the bedspread that I just washed 5 days ago. Each one of these is reason alone to shut the door, but all combined about put me over the edge. She may look sweet, but you can definitely see the mischief in her eyes.

I am hoping some day we make amends and this little girl does not do me in (she is very, VERY close.) For now I will follow behind her cleaning up messes and always, ALWAYS shut the door at night!