Quality Assurance Testing
Saturday morning, we had no plans. We could be lazy. The Webmaster and I did not want to get up early. So when the boys got up early, we just turned on a movie – in our room, even – and they sat down and watched. Thumper was all snuggled up with me, and I was only half-awake.
At some point, he got up and left. I wasn’t overly concerned, even though I knew he was probably hungry. How much trouble could he possibly get into?
Well, once the movie was over, I got up, followed by Tad and Rerun (who wanted food). We found the stepstool next to the counter, Thumper eating a chocolate chip cookie, and the microwave running.
I think Tad, Rerun, and I all had the same thought at the same time. “Why is the microwave running?”
I took the whole scene in at a glance, and then yelled.
Thumper had decided to cook a Duplo piece in the microwave. And when I stopped it, it still had 20:46 to go. And I have NO idea how long it had been cooking.
But this is what it looked like, when I pulled it out:
There was no saving this Duplo piece.
Tad and Rerun were pretty properly horrified at this. I was also horrified. The acrid smell of burning plastic was pretty horrifying, too. The Webmaster was concerned that the microwave wouldn’t be useable for food. We cleaned it up well, but there was a lingering smell inside the microwave. After consulting with Doc, we just decided that the safest course of action (and realizing that this microwave was 15 years old – the Webmaster pulled out the manual and discovered the receipt from Sears, where we purchased it in 2002) was to replace the microwave. So, we added that to the Costco list, and the Webmaster brought home a new microwave that evening.
We should note for the record that:
1) we had no idea Thumper could program the microwave (though he probably just hit a lot of numbers and came up with a big one),
2) we had no idea he knew where the start button was (though he is observant),
3) he ate the last two chocolate chip cookies (which were in a sandwich bag next to the microwave).
The bottom line is, we simply can’t take our eyes off him. Thumper is the epitome of the saying “if the toddler is not making noise, there is trouble.” The boy is a ninja, and he gets into EVERYTHING.
So, RIP old microwave, and RIP green Duplo piece. Sorry Thumper used you for a poorly thought out experiment. But the kid has a future as a quality assurance testing engineer, I think.
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March 21st, 2017 00:44
[…] And Thumper, you are a freaking ninja. You have the gift of being able to sneak off, sneak in, sneak up, sneak a snack – and never make a sound unless you want to be found. We’ve had to start locking doors in the house to keep you out of bedrooms – especially your sister’s top bunk, or Mama and Daddy’s bed, where you hide under the sheets without making a peep, until we find you. Then you giggle like mad. Your receptive language skills and memory are better than you let on – which is why you are able to get into your sister’s laptop, click on Google Chrome, and get onto YouTube to watch videos when our backs are turned. You are so observant that if you watch your siblings do something once, you’ve gleaned enough to try it yourself. This speaks well of your intelligence, but is very dangerous for us, especially since you think you know how to use a microwave. […]