Friday, September 26, 2008

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Upon seeing Linus's activity level, people of an older generation will often ask me, "Does he climb?" To which I respond, "Um, yeah." And then come the headshakes of sympathy because these experienced parents know that means no break for Mommy.

What does he climb exactly? Well, so far he has climbed: onto the couches and backs of the couches; onto the coffee tables where he likes to sit and walk around; onto the dining room chairs; up the wall to see out the window; up any slide he comes upon; up the bookshelves in the living room (which were thankfully the first secured to the wall); into the tub; and onto ride-on toys that he uses as mobile step-stools. And as if that isn't enough, he is currently working on scaling the babygate (he's halfway there), using the chairs to get on the dining table, and just this morning, I found him with a foot up on the rail of his crib.

I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I won't stop him from climbing. Instead, we are trying to work on getting down safely, understanding that we don't stand on furniture, and finding more appropriate outlets for our need to climb (i.e. the climbing wall at the museum).

Oh, and I am trying to look at all of this in a positive light. Who knows, maybe he's the next... Scratch that. As I was searching Wikipedia for famous mountain climbers, I began to notice a commonly repeated word: died. As in, died while descending such and such mountain. There is no positive light in this. I don't care if he's 1 year old or 35 years old, I would prefer he stay down here safely on the ground.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abby, this is a precious picture! Such an adventurer...gramma B.

Drea said...

that is such a cute pic. I love light coming in like that. taite is a big time climber.. his thing is to climb up on the bathroom counters and use my tooth brush, paste, deodorant, , etc... its very annoying. hes starting to have to get popped for it because im scared he may squirt himself w/ my facial toner or something.

Lesha said...

Yup, G is a climber too. I've turned around and found him sitting on the kitchen table too many times. And the window sill...not sure how he managed that one! He's ingenious in how he finds things to move about to climb the next big conquest.

carrhop said...

We've had some climbers in our crew too--and yes, I prefer them on the ground! One of my friends has a daughter who, when she was little, was the ninja of all toddler climbers. She was this tiny, tiny thing, no hair, looking all birdy and frail--and you would find her on top of the fridge. It was crazy! How do you baby-gate a fridge?!?!

Blessings!

Rosie : ) said...

Lol! Be happy that you aren't my best friend's sister. At the age of 12 months, they found her on top of the refridgerator, and at 18 months, they "lost" her for a bit until they looked on top of the *roof*!!! Yup, she had somehow climbed on top of the roof, and Dad was terrified of heights, mom was very pregnant. What an experience!

All of my kids have been climbers, but the scariest moment was when my 4th child, at 18 months old, climbed on the top bunk of the bunkbed *with no ladder* in sight. I still have no idea how she managed that feat. :)