A Few Cute Things About Pookie, Part 1: Stair Climbing Edition

The day was October 7, 2011. Emrick and I were in the formal living room.  I had followed him there during his household wanderings because while he likes to be free to explore, he doesn’t like to be left alone. The family room/kitchen area was gated off, as was the dining room, and the rooms in the back hallway were closed. So Emrick had open access to the foyer, the formal living room (which doesn’t have anything breakable in it), and his playroom. Anyway, while in the formal living room, I sat down while Emrick played with the drawers in the desk that’s in that room. A couple of minutes later, Emrick walked out. I didn’t feel the need to get up and follow him right away because all of the danger zones were closed off (or so I thought!!) and I figured he was headed for the playroom.

So I let about 30 seconds go by (AMPLE time for a baby to get in trouble, as it turns out), before standing up to check on him. I entered the foyer to find — HORRORS!! — Pookie was ON THE STAIRS, one step shy from the FIRST LANDING, making a total of SEVEN STEPS climbed! I literally gasped and screamed, “Oh my God!” and I scrambled up the stairs to get my baby! I grabbed him and kissed him and carried him back down.

Now, I know what everyone is thinking. You’re thinking, “Um… Duh?”

After doing some Googling, I discovered that it is not at all surprising for a baby to be able to climb stairs by this age. Many kids even learn to climb them before they can walk. But until Pookie started walking around on the tiled areas of the house, he had never really had access to the stairs before. They are contained entirely in the foyer. They are not near to the main living areas of the house, nor are they THAT close to the playroom, which has doors on it anyway. So Pooks had never had the opportunity before. I mean, a couple of months ago he showed some curiosity about the stairs, but he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do anything but get on his knees in front of the first step and bang his hands on it. I had no idea that he had magically, with no practice, acquired any step-climbing skills. So when I looked up those stairs and saw his little onesied butt looking down at me, it took a solid decade off my life.

When I got him back to the bottom of the stairs, he immediately tried to start climbing them again. I let him do it this time, while staying right behind him, of course. I didn’t time him, but I would say he got to the very top in well under a minute. What a boy!

But what this meant was that the time to purchase a stairway gate had arrived, and I emailed Marcus to notify him of this emergency shortly after it came upon us. And given that this gate will be there for at least a couple of years (and longer if we have another baby), Marcus wanted a gate that would not just be attractive, but that would go well with the existing stair railing. So what did he do?

Why, he built one, of course!!

Yes that's a purple ribbon holding it closed. A more permanent latch arrangement will be applied shortly.

Pretty nice, huh? I daresay it doesn’t even look like it’s intended to keep small children off the stairs. It looks instead like we are just very fancy, fine folks who like walking through gates and stuff when we’re making our way around the house.

THE END.

P.S. I know that Emrick’s 13-month birthday came and went a few days ago (and I am sure you all totally noticed and were horrified at the lack of a new post) but now that Emrick is a full year old, we are going to be marking his age every three months now, instead of every month. So stay tuned for Pookie’s First Quarterly Report, on December 16 😉