Shane's new trick

Shane's always learning a new way to jailbreak. Over spring break, he perfected the "crawl under the chair and run like mad."

Carrie's parents' house is not childproofed. It's big, wide, full of expensive stuff, and they have no kids so there's no child-safety anything. What we used to do to contain our son was make a makeshift, half-moon barrier out of his playpen, the couch, and a few chairs in the living room. It gave Shane enough room to roam around, but he was secure enough that it was safe to make a bottle or run to the bathroom.

We cannot do that anymore, because the boy has rediscovered the commando crawl. The grandparents blocked him off once, and turned their backs for a moment. They were shocked when Shane ran by chasing the cats shortly thereafter!

Shane may not be saying many words or willing to fiddle with his toys overmuch, but he's bent on applying his intellect into finding new ways to roam and discover the world around him. The boy lives to roam. If there's an open door, he's running. If there's a corner, he's peaking around it. My weight has been in the decline ever since he started walking. Parenting Shane is a munchkin marathon. The boy is always on the move. "He's the busiest boy, I ever met!" according to Nana.

Last night, Shane and I were roaming the neighborhood playground. He was convinced he could climb the chain ladder.

You know what?  He can get up the first couple of steps. Sometimes, he'll also try to grab handrails and walk up the stairs to the slide. No crawling. Walking.