Tis the Season

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

One of Teddy's favorite things about the holiday season is that we bring ladders into the house to decorate. And he loves ladders! He's gotten much better about safely coming down ladders versus simply letting us catch him. He's also gotten much better about taking turns, letting us actually do our work and then taking his own turn simply to play.

Teddy is part mountain goat!

More Christmas and holiday adventures to come!

Tractor Repairs Needed

Know a good tractor repair place? I have an 1850 Oliver that needs quite a few repairs. It's in 4 pieces, not counting the steering wheel and random screw I found.

You see, Teddy had an 1850 Oliver tractor on a shelf that's about 6 feet off the ground in his room where it should be perfectly safe from Teddy's curious hands. Should be.

Except Teddy likes to climb. He tries to climb the boxes in his closet to see what he can reach, so we spread them all in a single layer. He doesn't have the dexterity to stack the boxes on his own ... yet. But he has figured out that if he pulls out the drawers of his dresser, he can magically become taller. Sometimes he's tall enough to pull his lamp near the edge, remove the light bulb and place it in his top drawer along with 5 pacifiers. Dave and I each caught him on top of his dresser on two separate occasions, laying flat on top, quite proud of his accomplishment.

Let's just say that this week he scaled all 4 feet of his dresser for (at least that I know) the third time. Except this time, he moved beyond laying on it to the tall kneeling or most likely standing position. Then he reached out and got two items from his shelf, which is about a foot or so away from the dresser. I'm guessing he might have grabbed the compass first and that the tractor might have fallen when he attempted to grab that since it was (at least before becoming 4 separate pieces) rather heavy. It's intended to be a model tractor for display as opposed to a toy tractor, although Teddy was indeed playing with it when I entered his room.

I reckon this is why these are model tractors, not intended for play or falling 4+ feet.

So, now his bedroom dresser has child safety locks on the three bottom drawers. I'm guessing that Teddy can't use the 4th drawer to scale to the top, but you never know. If so, we'll add that safety lock. Until then, he has the freedom to empty and re-arrange his t-shirts, along with his swim wear and sock drawers that are the top row. I can't take away all his fun at once.

Mountain Goat

If it exists, it's sole purpose is either to be climbed or mouthed. At least that's Teddy's view on things. And he's very adept at both, although I personally feel his climbing skills are a bit more impressive than chomping on everything.

For a child who cannot walk unassisted, who has low tone, who feels like you're carrying 35 pounds of Jello at times, this boy can climb. He's climbed into the trunk of my car. He's climbed onto the arm of the recliner, standing on it contemplating scaling the bookshelf until I told him no. He's climbed into every sink in our house. (He likes water a lot, so why wouldn't you climb into a sink?)

I'm not technically on the table, Mom. I'm flying like Superman!

He continues to climb across the table to retrieve what he wants, usually AJ's art supplies, toys or food. We do try to keep him off the table, both for safety and appropriate behavior, but it's a constant challenge. And needless to say, he's never too impressed when we remove him from the fun.

I've often joked that Teddy could climb Mount Everest ... and I'm not so sure that's really a joke.