Learning to Climb
Abbie is a climber. She first taught us this fact around 18 months when she climbed out of her crib for the first time. She reinforces this fact in us every day by finding new heights to climb to. Her current favorite forbidden height is the kitchen countertop where she can access all manner of foodstuff as well as sippy cups and other dishes that remind her of foodstuff.
I’ve known about Abbie’s penchant for climbing for some months, and I’ve learned to accept it. I’ve learned to keep anything I don’t want her to have far above her reach where I’m absolutely certain she can’t break/drool on/swallow it. I’ve also learned to recognize the sounds of her climbing onto forbidden surfaces, such as the sound of our protective layer of clutter that coats all horizontal surfaces hitting the floor as she pulls herself up. I’m ready for her climbing adventures. What I’m not ready for is Ian’s climbing adventures.
About a week ago, Ian pulled himself up to standing for the first time. Today he pulled himself up to standing for the 41,027,501st time. I think this is an impressive achievement considering that he’s only 8-months-old, and was born eight weeks early. Plus he only started sitting unassisted a couple weeks ago, and I figured he’d want a little more time to master that technique, or at least build some core body strength before graduating to standing. At this rate he’ll be walking within a month, and helping his sister squeeze into tight countertop spaces before his first birthday.
Like most things physical exertion, Tory can pull himself up as well; he just prefers remaining in a horizontal position on the floor. Ian is the one I have to keep a close eye on, watching to see when he pulls himself up, making sure I’m in position to catch him should he fall or at least placing something soft near him to break his fall.
I remember the first time Abbie pulled herself up to standing. I don’t remember when it happened, so I’m just going to say she was 9-months-old. One of her favorite toys at the time was her IncrediBlock, a roughly 18-inch cube with five sides of baby fun and one side that holds the batteries. She could play with it in a sitting or standing position, though I only let her stand with it when I was sitting directly behind her to catch her if she fell. If I needed to run to another room for something, I would sit her in front of it and stand her up when I returned.
Once I sat Abbie in front of her IncrediBlock and ran to the kitchen to do something. I’d like to say my chore was something semi-noble like answering the phone, but I probably just wanted some sort of snack item. When I returned, I almost dropped my bowl of ice cream from the shock of seeing Abbie standing at her IncrediBlock. I checked with Ellie to make sure she didn’t move her, and swore I’d keep a closer eye on her in the future.
Now the idea of watching one child carefully for safety seems almost quaint. As long as Ian is happy standing and won’t injure himself to the point of needing a trip to the emergency room if he falls, I let him go and concentrate on keeping the other two children placated. Ian loves climbing, so there’s not much point in trying to keep him on the floor anyway. A couple days ago he tried climbing on Abbie’s potty. He already loves standing with the IncrediBlock:
His favorite thing to climb on, though, is the one object he can always count on to be laid flat near him: Tory.
Note that Ian hasn’t pulled himself up yet. That’s because it severely ticks off Tory when Ian uses him as a prop, and we can’t take a picture of the two of them while Tory screams, no matter how cute it is. Maybe I can at least count on having one child who will stay on the ground.
I’ve known about Abbie’s penchant for climbing for some months, and I’ve learned to accept it. I’ve learned to keep anything I don’t want her to have far above her reach where I’m absolutely certain she can’t break/drool on/swallow it. I’ve also learned to recognize the sounds of her climbing onto forbidden surfaces, such as the sound of our protective layer of clutter that coats all horizontal surfaces hitting the floor as she pulls herself up. I’m ready for her climbing adventures. What I’m not ready for is Ian’s climbing adventures.
About a week ago, Ian pulled himself up to standing for the first time. Today he pulled himself up to standing for the 41,027,501st time. I think this is an impressive achievement considering that he’s only 8-months-old, and was born eight weeks early. Plus he only started sitting unassisted a couple weeks ago, and I figured he’d want a little more time to master that technique, or at least build some core body strength before graduating to standing. At this rate he’ll be walking within a month, and helping his sister squeeze into tight countertop spaces before his first birthday.
Like most things physical exertion, Tory can pull himself up as well; he just prefers remaining in a horizontal position on the floor. Ian is the one I have to keep a close eye on, watching to see when he pulls himself up, making sure I’m in position to catch him should he fall or at least placing something soft near him to break his fall.
I remember the first time Abbie pulled herself up to standing. I don’t remember when it happened, so I’m just going to say she was 9-months-old. One of her favorite toys at the time was her IncrediBlock, a roughly 18-inch cube with five sides of baby fun and one side that holds the batteries. She could play with it in a sitting or standing position, though I only let her stand with it when I was sitting directly behind her to catch her if she fell. If I needed to run to another room for something, I would sit her in front of it and stand her up when I returned.
Once I sat Abbie in front of her IncrediBlock and ran to the kitchen to do something. I’d like to say my chore was something semi-noble like answering the phone, but I probably just wanted some sort of snack item. When I returned, I almost dropped my bowl of ice cream from the shock of seeing Abbie standing at her IncrediBlock. I checked with Ellie to make sure she didn’t move her, and swore I’d keep a closer eye on her in the future.
Now the idea of watching one child carefully for safety seems almost quaint. As long as Ian is happy standing and won’t injure himself to the point of needing a trip to the emergency room if he falls, I let him go and concentrate on keeping the other two children placated. Ian loves climbing, so there’s not much point in trying to keep him on the floor anyway. A couple days ago he tried climbing on Abbie’s potty. He already loves standing with the IncrediBlock:
His favorite thing to climb on, though, is the one object he can always count on to be laid flat near him: Tory.
Note that Ian hasn’t pulled himself up yet. That’s because it severely ticks off Tory when Ian uses him as a prop, and we can’t take a picture of the two of them while Tory screams, no matter how cute it is. Maybe I can at least count on having one child who will stay on the ground.
posted by Matt at
11:16 PM
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