Living in Fear; or, my days with Lucy
Lucy is no longer walking.
Oh, no, my friends. She is climbing. Slides, ladders, chairs, tables--pretty much anything that gets her up off the ground. Anytime she is awake, she is trying to find something to climb. We have an armchair with buttons in the back rest, creating little crevasses that are just the right size for Lucy to get her little toes into. That's right, Eric's leather chair has become Lucy's personal climbing wall. I have always snatched her off of it before she quite makes it to the top, which is probably four feet off the ground, but I have a feeling it's just a matter of time.
It's funny how certain phases in a child's development completely consume you, and then they pass and you forget about them. Beth was a climber, too. I once found her standing on top of the kitchen table. After that, I made sure I kept the dining room chairs pushed all the way up against the table, so she couldn't climb from floor to chair, from chair to tabletop. Eventually, she got to where climbing on top of everything was no longer so fascinating, and I stopped worrying about the chairs, and got back into the habit of leaving them ajar. Until the last few weeks, that is.
I don't know whether Lucy is more resourceful than her older sister, or whether the tile floors in our new kitchen are just more slide-y than the floors in our old house, because keeping the chairs in a non-climbable position does not deter Lucy. She just uses all the strength of her little body to push and pull and scoot them until she has them where she wants them, and then she climbs.
She can push a chair all the way across the kitchen, so that it is next to the counter, then climb up on the chair to get what she wants off of the counter. Nothing is safe from her anymore. Everything I used to put up and out of her reach is suddenly within her grasp.
As you may imagine, the balancing skills of a 15-month-old do not quite match her climbing skills. This means she is taking frequent tumbles, and I'm afraid one of these days it's going to be a bad one. Yesterday she fell face-first and cut her lip open. I try to keep a close watch on her, and I am working on training her not to STAND when she climbs up on furniture--climbing up and sitting on the couch cushions is fine, but climbing and bouncing on the couch cushions is not. This is a distinction she has not yet grasped, and the potential that she's going to fall off and break her neck is always there in the back of my mind.
Even the backyard is no longer a safe haven where I can turn the girls out to play. We have a little slide that she is easily able to climb up on top of, balance herself, then slide down. But it's just high enough off the ground that I don't trust her to do this without supervision. Playgrounds are the same. No longer content to walk around and play with bark chips, she wants to climb all over the equipment. Even the "toddler-size" equipment is not exciting enough for her anymore, and she attempts to climb on the big kid stuff, more than 10 feet off the ground. I'm sorry, but that's just too scary for me.
Suddenly none of my furniture is just furniture anymore. I'm sizing it up from a 1-year-old perspective, wondering just how bad it would be if she were to A) make it to the top; and B) fall all the way to the hard floor below.
So those of you with older kids or kids who aren't at that climbing stage yet, thank your lucky stars, then think of me as you sit on your non-worrisome furniture. You might also pray that my sanity and my little climber both survive the next few months.
Oh, no, my friends. She is climbing. Slides, ladders, chairs, tables--pretty much anything that gets her up off the ground. Anytime she is awake, she is trying to find something to climb. We have an armchair with buttons in the back rest, creating little crevasses that are just the right size for Lucy to get her little toes into. That's right, Eric's leather chair has become Lucy's personal climbing wall. I have always snatched her off of it before she quite makes it to the top, which is probably four feet off the ground, but I have a feeling it's just a matter of time.
It's funny how certain phases in a child's development completely consume you, and then they pass and you forget about them. Beth was a climber, too. I once found her standing on top of the kitchen table. After that, I made sure I kept the dining room chairs pushed all the way up against the table, so she couldn't climb from floor to chair, from chair to tabletop. Eventually, she got to where climbing on top of everything was no longer so fascinating, and I stopped worrying about the chairs, and got back into the habit of leaving them ajar. Until the last few weeks, that is.
I don't know whether Lucy is more resourceful than her older sister, or whether the tile floors in our new kitchen are just more slide-y than the floors in our old house, because keeping the chairs in a non-climbable position does not deter Lucy. She just uses all the strength of her little body to push and pull and scoot them until she has them where she wants them, and then she climbs.
She can push a chair all the way across the kitchen, so that it is next to the counter, then climb up on the chair to get what she wants off of the counter. Nothing is safe from her anymore. Everything I used to put up and out of her reach is suddenly within her grasp.
As you may imagine, the balancing skills of a 15-month-old do not quite match her climbing skills. This means she is taking frequent tumbles, and I'm afraid one of these days it's going to be a bad one. Yesterday she fell face-first and cut her lip open. I try to keep a close watch on her, and I am working on training her not to STAND when she climbs up on furniture--climbing up and sitting on the couch cushions is fine, but climbing and bouncing on the couch cushions is not. This is a distinction she has not yet grasped, and the potential that she's going to fall off and break her neck is always there in the back of my mind.
Even the backyard is no longer a safe haven where I can turn the girls out to play. We have a little slide that she is easily able to climb up on top of, balance herself, then slide down. But it's just high enough off the ground that I don't trust her to do this without supervision. Playgrounds are the same. No longer content to walk around and play with bark chips, she wants to climb all over the equipment. Even the "toddler-size" equipment is not exciting enough for her anymore, and she attempts to climb on the big kid stuff, more than 10 feet off the ground. I'm sorry, but that's just too scary for me.
Suddenly none of my furniture is just furniture anymore. I'm sizing it up from a 1-year-old perspective, wondering just how bad it would be if she were to A) make it to the top; and B) fall all the way to the hard floor below.
So those of you with older kids or kids who aren't at that climbing stage yet, thank your lucky stars, then think of me as you sit on your non-worrisome furniture. You might also pray that my sanity and my little climber both survive the next few months.
3 comments:
And people who don't have children wonder what stay-at-home moms do all day!
I do believe I cut my forehead open when I ran and fell on one of my church pews at about that age. (Don't worry, though--I don't think I've been permanently damaged.)
I know what you mean. That climbing stage is nerve racking! I'm there too with Moriah (she's 2). I having a hard time with her getting away from me and getting into trouble when I'm doing something with another child, so I tried a baby gate to keep her in the same room as us. While I was reading to JD (he's 5), she climbed it, got stuck at the top, and cried for me. Obviously I need a different gate! So I'll pray for you if you pray for me. :)
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