This is what happens when you finally change your son's stinky diaper . . . it empowers him to CLIMB. And very fast! I turned to gather up the aforementioned dirty diaper and attendant cleaning tools and when I turned back, Thad was half in the activity table (I didn't read that this is one of the activities for which it is designed. I need to check that little pamphlet-thingy again, clearly.). I just sat there thinking, "Well, this will be good exercise for him to try and try and try to get all the way up." As this naive, silly-mommy thought was going through my mind, Thad was up and in and on his way to the coffee table . . .
Since the coffee table is also my work table, he first had to survey the topography to determine how to get hand- and footholds amidst mommy's work.
He also starting dancing a jig because Julie Andrews started singing A Few of My Favorite Things which happens to be one of his favorite things. What can I say? My son has priorities!
Anyway, he was pretty determined to get onto the coffee table but you could tell he was a little more cautious about how to do it and what he would do after he made the climb.
So he kept rockin' out, stopping every once and a while to flash his poor old distraught-yet-fascinated mother a grin that communicated volumes: "You poor woman. I have seduced you with my cuddliness, my wit, my laughter at your lame animal noises . . . Now you belong to me, heart and soul . . . Now my real fun begins: I am going to climb, Climb, CLIMB! Your heart will never be the same. This is only the beginning, Mother Dear!!"
My little cherub . . . I applaud your sense of adventure, your physical prowess (also evident in your artful gymnastics to avoid diapering, dressing, undressing and a thousand other things), your strategic thinking, your fearlessness (written now with much fear and trepidation), your energy and your tenacity! These are qualities that your daddy and I very much want to form in you--in addition to caution, care and safety!
As I helped you DOWN DOWN DOWN, I was thrilled and I mourned. My little baby is really gone. He is desparate to walk and climb and GO, MOM! But I am thrilled, too! You have such a wonderful personality, Thaddypus. When Julie Andrews sings Getting to Know You she puts to words the adventure that is mine: learning to read my son--to delight in his accomplishments, to mourn his misses, to laugh when he laughs, to comfort when he cries and most importantly, to teach him to live a grace-filled life.
And of course, to take great care with his poor old mom's heart. Please God. Amen.
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