Things Daniel Destroys (new sub-series: furniture)

Daniel is a determined boy, and he is STRONG. Yesterday afternoon, he proved that he can climb up the baby slide and the mid-size slide at the playground all by himself (I don't let him near the long spiral one). This morning, he decided to open the wooden blanket chest that my father finished for me, that we've been using as a toy chest in the living room. I had been worried that the chain that prevented this chest from opening all the way would lead to tiny broken fingers (because a child would open the lid partway then drop it down accidentally). As a result, we removed the chain several years ago and, when open the chest, we always rest the lid on the futon right behind it.

This morning, however, the wooden chest was still several feet away from the futon because we had a friend staying over for a few days, using the futon as a bed. I was in the kitchen but Daniel apparently lifted the lid and flung it fully open such that the front side of the lid hit the ground with a bang, overextending the hinges in the wrong direction, popping out most of the screws, and cracking the piece of wood that makes up the lid. In his pursuit of maximum chaos, he then proceeded to start pulling Benji's puzzles and toys out of the chest and throwing them on the floor for Tamar to eat and spread around the room.

This was all before 8:00 am, when I was on morning duty because Aaron has a cold right now.

Aaron thinks the damage to the wood is fixable but I am dubious. It may return to being a blanket chest in our bedroom, as opposed to a toy chest!

--Victoria