AS we’re sure all parents will agree, toddlers are energetic, rebellious and – most of all – MESSY.
Well if you thought you had it bad with permanent marker scribbles on your furniture, then spare a thought for Shyama Underwood.
The mum-of-four, 35, from Northampton, says she hasn’t been able to take her eyes off her youngest son, Jaxon-Carter, three, since he started walking at 10 months old.
Since then, the cheeky tot’s warpath of destruction has set Shyama back a staggering £6,000.
If breaking 12 TVs wasn’t bad enough, Jaxon-Carter has also done a spot of redecorating by leaving painted handprints all over the walls before pouring SOIL over the family’s new living room.
But despite efforts to discipline him, Shyama says telling Jaxon-Carter not to do something makes him want to act out more.
She said: “Everyone in the family calls him Wreck-It Ralph because nothing is safe in his path.
“From the moment he started walking I’ve not been able to turn my back on him, even for a second without him getting up to mischief.
“We’ve been through 12 TVs in the last 18 months where he’s destroyed them by pulling them off the unit or thrown something at them.
“Just last week he nearly set the house on fire by putting his toy in the oven while I was cooking dinner – I came back and the oven was in flames.”
What’s more, the mum claims Jaxon-Carter has flooded the bathroom not once – but TWICE.
She continued: “He redecorated my entire bathroom with grey paint and another time he redecorated himself and the walls with white emulsion which I had purposely hidden from him.
“One night I woke up in the middle of the night and heard him moving around. I went to check on him and he had covered his entire bedroom and himself in blue sharpie.
“When he pulled the plant out of its pot and poured the soil all over the living room I had literally just got a new sofa and carpets.
“He was just staring at me with these white little eyes behind his black filthy face. I have to laugh otherwise I’d just cry.”
As well as having a keen eye for interior decorating, Jaxon also likes to bend the rules on days out – and isn’t afraid to clamber into places that are off limits.
But the stay at home mum who has three other boys, Keaton, 16, Regan, 14, and Oakley, seven, says she has to be proud of little Jaxon, who overcame sepsis from a virus at four months and has since been a quick developer.
She said: “My two eldest boys were only two years apart so I thought I was well trained after dealing with their antics but Jaxon gives them all a run for their money.
“We went to a farm and he started trying to climb underneath the gap to get into the animal pens. I kept pulling him back out but as soon as he got a second out of sight he was in and laid down next to a goat.”
“He had a tough start when he was born, he had sepsis and we didn’t know if he would pull through but since then he’s been quick to learn everything from crawling at five months and walking around at 10.
“He looks like butter wouldn’t melt but it definitely would – I know because he’s pulled it out of the fridge and covered himself in it!”
£2,600 on TVs
£1,500 on redecorating/repairs
£1,400 on professional cleaners
£500 on replacing damaged items (food, clothes, toys, make-up)
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