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In the book "Dogwood" by Chris Fabry there is this text from the beginning of chapter 6 about a prisoner:

There are dime-size holes in the Plexiglas, and it's all I can do not to put my fingers through them as I consider the list of possible visitors. There have been only a handful in twelve years. Carson. My mother came after my father's funeral to show pictures.

From the text that follows I can understand that the prisoner in the special cabin is meeting his relative. Can you explain to me why author is using the sentence construction: "and it's all I can do not to put my fingers through them".

Did the author mean:

  1. it's all I can - I don't need to put my fingers through them to see the list of possible visitors.

or

  1. and it's all I can considering the list of possible visitors (besides putting my fingers through dime-size holes).
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  • In context, there's probably no real reason why the writer shouldn't poke his fingers through the holes. He just means it's very tempting. Like how some people have an irresistible urge to pop bubble-wrap, or push a button. And in case you're wondering, it was more than I could do to resist pushing that button just now. (But just like the last time I pressed it over 10 years ago, it still doesn't do anything! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 27 at 14:06

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The expression 'it's all I can do not to do something' is a way of saying 'I am strongly tempted to do that thing almost to the point of doing it'.

If something is all you can do, it is a struggle for you to do that thing. If you add 'not', you mean it is a struggle for you to avoid doing that thing.

I was very hungry. I saw a plate of delicious cakes on the table, and it was all I could do not to take one and eat it.

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