A no, my life was not interrupted by having a baby! LOL! I'm still huge and waddling around the house per usual. <--For some reason I love to do this every couple of years just to keep me more sane, or prove I am insane. You don't believe me? Hehehe! Actually, I'm addicted to babies. Soft snuggly, cuddly little babies... I want one so bad right now it's killing me!
Literally. Well, if the baby doesn't, then the freakishly weird dreams might! Lol! Good grief.
Anyway, all this babiness and baby readiness and baby hungriness has reminded me of my first baby and his overly abundant ability to find catastrophes when and wherever he could. My hubby and I should've realized very early on just how much trouble our little blonde, giggling, tyke would be. Very early on... like say 9 months... though, had we been more in tune or had a few more kids under our belts we may have realized even sooner he was going to be one adventure after another.
Nothing, though--NOTHING--could've prepared us for when our sweet cherub decided to climb out of his own crib at 9 months. Nothing. (And may I add--at nine months the little guy was barely wearing 6 month clothing!)
So there I was, video in the VHS player, waiting for my hubby to put our little guy down for his nap. After a few minutes he came back in the room, snuggled down on the sofa with me and I pushed PLAY on the remote. About 5 minutes later, we stared in shock as our little monster cooed and giggled his way crawling up to the couch to sit with mom and dad. Neither of us could believe what we were seeing--
me: What in the world? I thought you put him to bed.
hubby: I did put him to bed--at least I thought I did.
me: What do you mean--at least you thought you did? Hello? You had one job to do--put him to bed and you do what? Set him on the floor and lay a blanket on him instead?
hubby: I uh--I uh--well, maybe...
me: Are you kidding me? You laid my baby on the floor instead of putting him in his crib?
hubby: I guess so. That's so weird.
me: I'll tell you what's weird... and it's not--
hubby: Fine! I'm putting him to bed now, are you happy?
me: You better. Good grief. sometimes you worry me, you know?
Five minutes later, my hubby and I are watching the movie... when here comes trouble all coos and smiles again.
hubby: Holy cow! Now I KNOW I put him in bed this time!
me: What in the world--you left the side down didn't you?
hubby: NO!
me: Well how else did he get out?
hubby: I don't know, but I intend to find out. Come here you, mom keeps blaming this on me--come show me what you're doing, you little tough guy.
me: Wait up! This I've gotta see
After snuggling our happy guy back into bed, and making sure the sides were securely locked and in place, we waited by the door and watched. Sure enough, not two minutes later--our 9 month old sat up and began to pile his blankets and pillow and couple of animals all to one corner of the crib. Once he'd made a good-sized mountain, he then began to climb to the top of it, pull himself up to the railing and swing one leg over it.
By this time I lunged forward, heart in my throat, but my hubby caught me up--
"Wait, Jenni! He's obviously done this twice before, let's see what happens."
Out of reluctance and a bit of fascination, I finally agreed, and watched as my giggling monster swung his other leg over the railing and then proceeded to shin down the bars until he plopped with a thud onto his diapered bottom. Happy coos and proud chattering followed him all the way to our feet as he crawled up to us with the biggest cheesiest grin I'd ever seen.
And that's when it happened... My hubby and I realized we were in trouble and our life had truly been interrupted.
Wow, you've got a smarty pants, problem solver on your hands. :)
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh. I had one of those little guys too. Turns out, they end up really smart, destroying most of your house and have lots of friends. Some people call them natural-born leaders.
ReplyDeleteI call it natural-born trouble. Gotta love it!
Holy cow! I've had two boys and both went to the big bed at 18 months BEFORE they started crawling out of the crib... I though I was being proactive. Wouldn't have worked for you. lol!
ReplyDeleteI love babies too! Wish I could get a few more. Darn infertility...
Wow! I'm impressed! You *do* have a little clever clogs on your hands!
ReplyDeleteOur daughter was the same. We had to hide to see how she was managing to climb out since her nose barely reached the rail when she was standing. She didn't need to pile stuff up though. Instead, she raised one leg high, curled her toes over the top of the rail, and somehow managed to haul herself over with her arms and the leg! After that we left the rail down - clearly safer that way.
ReplyDeleteWow! And I've just been reading Piaget and all the things that babies can't do yet at nine months. I don't think he looked at the right babies!!
ReplyDeleteActually, I now have a problem. I am trying to write an essay arguing for social interaction in learning and you have just presented me with a fine example of a very young 'solitary scientist'! And I find myself lying awake in bed at 2.30am with the image of a tiny boy in a baby grow making a tower of blankets in his cot and wondering what on earth my thesis statement is going to be! Perhaps you can help me by confirming that the social activities you engaged him in since birth were of such a stimulating nature as to dramatically increase the synaptic pathways, thus giving him the ability to problem-solve alone! I would be awfully grateful!
ReplyDeleteRuthie! LoL! You crack me up. He was my oldest of course... so he received a ton of attention, but not what you're thinking. He was just strong... and had NO FEAR. We had to teach him how to swim at 6 months old (dog paddle and hold his breath under water) so he wouldn't drown. I can't tell you how many swimming pools he would run and jump into at different parties while we were living in Phoenix--or how many pairs of shoes I ruined diving in after him.
ReplyDeleteAs a 2/3 year old he loved to make his own bed, even lift the mattress. He's extremely small for his age (his younger sister who's 11 is over 5 ft, while he is 13 and still 4'10). By a year old he was organizing his toy cars by color and models in perfect rows. He's always been extremely gifted in organization and memory. By two he would tell me how to drive home from certain places... he could tell where we were just by the trees, which was all he could see. And now at 13 he knows the make and model of every foreign and US car ever made. Even down to the littlest details like the original colors each car was produced with and how limited they were.
Yet, he suffered extremely from dyslexia and almost refused to read until he was about 9 years old. He also suffered from horrid night terrors when he was younger.
I should've realized back when he was three months old how motivated and problem solving he was. The little guy couldn't crawl, but would roll over on his back and scoot with his legs across the floor like an inch worm (rolling back over to check his progress every few seconds) until he got to where he wanted to go. Which would usually be tearing up letters, or bills lying on the floor, or playing with shoes, purses, etc. anything he could grasp.
Each spirit comes to us so different though. I don't think you can find a simple answer for any of them. My third, when he was ten months old could escape from any locked gate. Even strong garden gates. My 4th didn't understand the concept out of sight, out of mind, as early as 4/5 months she was never fooled when we took something away from her. She would be searching through our pockets, behind our back, under pillows... to find it. lol!
If it helps every one of my children are extremely gifted in art...? And i sing to them...? LoL! I'm sorry Ruthie! I do believe though that the more you interact with the children the more confidence they have and the better they are socially.
ReplyDeleteThat's great info - I hope you don't mind me using him as an example - he can be my baby Piaget - my contrasting example. And actually I agree with you - babies do come with their own gifts and personailities. I think social interaction can either help build or squash them.
ReplyDeletePity I can't write about spirits in my essay - I could look for some quotes by Brigham Young - that would give them something to think about!
That is hilarious! I can't even imagine. Neither of my kids ever learned how to climb out. Well, at least not before we were ready. Both got moved to a toddler bed when they were about a year and a half old, but still! Nine month? Yikes!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenni!
ReplyDeleteSomething like that happened with me, too. My oldest girl learned how to climb out of her crib before she knew how to walk!
Serious freaky!
How cute!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter did this too, but only once and I dont remember how.
LOL, that's hilarious! Of course, my kids never did that, so maybe that's why I find it so funny...
ReplyDeleteLOL.....and then ~sigh~ i miss the chaos, i miss the "mansion", i miss the blender experiments LOL.......great now i am crying UGGHHH and i almost called you at at 6:15 am I NEED to go back to bed your pregnesia is rubbing off on me!
ReplyDelete