Why do they bother to make toys for boys?

Otherwise known as Help! I Need an Instruction Manual.

Sometimes I think that parenthood is God's inside joke on His children. It's the only thing that explains why all my kids are very much like and yet nothing at all like myself and my husband (well, that and Mendelian genetics, but still).

You would think, by the time I got to the third child, I might have an inkling of what I was doing - right? Wrong!

So, #1 Son comes along and we follow all the parenting and pediatrician's advice - 3 1/2 years later we find out that the reason very little of it worked is because he has autism. Ahhh, of course - now all those unexplained tantrums/obsessions/pickiness/not-wanting-to-sleep etc. make sense. Okay, got it. Shift gears. Read up on autism, evaluate strategy, adapt. (And keep on adapting as it turns out, but that's another story, never mind, anyway....)

Next, Dear Daughter comes along. Definitely not autistic, thank goodness. Rather, social butterfly. Extrovert in the extreme. Where did this child come from again? Gotta love those Mendelian genetics - recessive genes, gotta be. With the non-stop energy of a kangaroo - for a while we called her Tigger. She has two speeds - fast forward and asleep - nothing in between. And oh, the drama....

Now then, #2 Son comes along. With trepidation we wait to see if autism makes an appearance again. No? Okay, great. So, boy raising strategy minus autism adaptation. Er, yeah. Well, maybe?

Huh. This one defies the parenting books, the pediatrician's advice, and all our knowledge and experience gained with his brother and sister. An extrovert like his sister, he wants to follow me around everywhere I go. But, like his brother - fascinated with how everything works. So he follows me around and wreaks havoc everywhere he goes. Whereas Chris would play with the light switches for hours at a time, Connor wants to take apart anything he can get his hands on. And - he can get his hands on most anything he wants to. He's got his sister's strength and agility combined with his brother's amazing capacity for figuring things out. This is a dangerous combination in a 2 year old. He can climb anything, escape anything, take anything apart, and has unlimited energy (he really doesn't nap anymore). I'd love to create a giant, toddler size hamster ball to put him in and let him bash around the house awhile without being able to hurt himself.

You see, he doesn't want toys anymore. I've tried every bait and switch in the book. It distracts him for 30 seconds and then he's back trying to play with the entertainment system, or the dish cupboard, or the refrigerator, or the CD rack, or the computer. I used to just put things up, but I'm running out of UP. Besides, I can't move the equipment.

I keep hoping he will pass through this phase quickly, or else a padded room will be required. For him or for me remains to be seen.....