Wednesday, March 24, 2010

All the world's a jungle gym....

I'm an Engineer so I will admit that I have never studied English Literature at all in University.  So reaching way back to my high school English classes (way, way back) I remember Shakespeare once said/wrote, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players..." (don't ask me which work this came from or even the rest of the quote, as I said I'm an engineer).  I think that this needs to be reworked to fit my current life with a toddler who likes to climb stuff.  Really the toddler version of this should read, "All the world's a jungle gym and all the parents merely there to kiss the owies that I get from falling off stuff."

 My first child wasn't a climber.  I never caught him on the kitchen table or up on the counter top or balanced precariously on anything.  I had friends who had climbers and I admit that I just thought their kids didn't listen well or were more mischievous than my angel!  I was wrong, their kids just had the climbing bug!

Apparently the climbing bug is unstoppable in my younger son who is only 17 months old.  As soon as he could walk (which he did earlier than I was ready for @ 10.5 months) he started to try and climb things.  I would come into the kitchen to see him balanced on a wobbling plastic kiddie chair.  The first time it happened I just about had a heart attack!  I watched this baby who wasn't even a year old standing so proud on the chair as it rocked slightly.  The chairs had to go.  The stools that my older son used to help at the kitchen counter were next. 

Now he can get up onto regular chairs, his highchair (if the tray is off), the couches, tables everything.  Even the slide attached to the swing-set outside is no longer an obstacle.  If he can get a knee up on something he's unstoppable.  Actually, he doesn't even need that I've seen him haul his body up onto a kitchen chair that didn't even have a cross rail.  (Wish I had that kind of upper body strength!)

This boy isn't slowing down with his climbing in fact he's incredibly proud of it.  Today he was climbing up on the chairs at our dining table then standing up, raising his hands over his head and saying "Ta-da" in triumph.  Perhaps we'll just have to accept that he is a climber and give him the right place to climb... new project for the summer could be a kiddie climbing wall in the back yard.  Its either that or shackle a weight to his ankle to help keep his feet on the ground!

No comments:

Post a Comment