Month 19: Stunt Baby, Part XVII

There’s been a security breach at our house. Just before 0700 hours on Saturday, 15 December, 2007, Miles escaped from his crib. We heard a loud thump from his room and then a cry. I jumped out of bed and ran into the hall just as he was opening his door. Yep, he can work doorknobs now, too. Excellent.

He appeared to be slightly dazed but otherwise fine. I’m actually shocked it’s taken him this long to learn how to climb out of the crib. Good thing his room is carpeted.

As you may recall from this post and this post, and this post, Miles has always been an active little fella. He has suffered bumps, bruises, and a chipped tooth. He has been to the ER. We have gradually removed or replaced most of our hard-edged furniture. And now, we have lowered the crib mattress to the very lowest slot.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have encouraged him on that rock-climbing wall the other day. See, this week we started a new tumbling class at a local children’s gym. The kids rolled on mats, slid down ramps, jumped on trampolines, and hopped across cushions.

Then there was this sort of mini climbing wall with hand and foot grips. Miles wanted no part of it, but seeing all the other kids climb it one by one, I pushed him to try. I encouraged him to SCALE A WALL, people! What’s the matter with me?? Like the child needs any encouragement to attempt potentially dangerous stunts? Anyway, I think the thrill of conquering that wall gave him the confidence to attempt his prison break the next morning. That’ll teach me, huh?

And that was just the beginning of our exciting weekend. After that, C. took Miles to the pool (where he attempted to dive in by himself), and then we all went to see a production of “101 Dalmations” at a children’s theater. Miles has the book and loves it, but I wasn’t sure how he would handle a play. Better than expected: he added his own sound effects (“Woof! Woof!”) and got a little antsy during some parts, but he loved the music and the kids dressed up in dog costumes.

Today we went to a train museum to see the holiday displays. Choo, choo! I have to admit, checking out a bunch of trains wasn’t tops on my list of ways to spend a day, but even I ended up thinking it was pretty cool. They take you on a short ride on a train that’s decked out like the Polar Express or something out of Harry Potter. The conductors come up and down the aisle and greet everyone, and the kids can stand up on the seats and look out the windows.

This train was going through downtown Baltimore rather than to the North Pole or Hogwarts, so the view was, uh, less than scenic. “Look, kids, a crack house! An abandoned car! Ooh, and over there, is that a one-legged homeless guy?” But it didn’t matter, because we were in Festive Holiday Weekend mode! It almost makes up for all those other weekends when we sit around doing nothing but patching up Danger Boy. Let’s hope none of us starts tomorrow morning with a thud.

BUY O’ THE WEEK: I got Miles a shirt like this at Target. It's like it was made for him!