The Gymnasts in the family

Despite the fact that my cat is 15 years old, she is a gymnast.  My husband didn't initially believe her Michael Jordan vertical jump until he saw it with his own eyes.  This kitty can get pretty much anywhere and in contortions that make you laugh.  As mentioned previously, she loves getting in the crib and our kitchen was baby-proofed long before we had the baby.  We even have to have double baby-locks on our kitchen trash can.  We have watched the toddler and the cat mimic each other's moves.

So... a little over a year ago, my 9 month old tried to climb over his crib.  When I called the pediatrician's office up to inquire what to do.  They said I couldn't move him to a toddler bed until he was a year and I couldn't put a net or anything above because of SIDs/ suffocation risk.  The nurse basically said, "well, I guess put a bunch of pillows and an extra mattress by the bed in case he falls", we put the pillows there, but his room wasn't that big.  I convinced my father-in-law to try to put his new toddler bed together, and see if he was ready for that.  We cleaned it up (it was a Craigslist purchase) and my father-in-law did a great job of putting it together.  It became clear my son was not ready for it.  So his large red fire engine bed has been taking up a fair chunk of space in our rec room, half-forgotten.  Even though the little monkey was physically ready at 9 months to eject himself from the bed, he never did it (thankfully).

Yesterday during my son's nap, my son awoke.  My husband exclaimed, "Duchess!" as he said he saw a flying squirrel or cat exit the crib while my son was flailing.  Duchess had somehow snuck in and most likely had awoken him because she probably was trying to snuggle up with him.  Fortunately we were able to get him back to sleep and I made sure the child safety gate was secure to keep the cat out.

Then this morning...  my husband noticed that our son was standing in his crib.  Being a weekend morning, I was in no rush to get out of bed and so I told my husband not to worry, I'd keep my eye on him and I'm sure he wouldn't jump out of the crib.  I was starting my morning ritual and all of a sudden there was a thump.  He had gone head first out of the crib.  Fortunately, he was ok.  I however did not want to risk him doing that again, so I convinced my husband to spend Sunday morning taking apart the crib and putting together the new toddler bed.  It was like an era ending.  I know I was certainly feeling bittersweet about putting the crib away, the last semblance of my son being a "baby".  My son was jumping for joy, hugging and crawling all over and "helping".   My son said "Bye Bye Crib" with no remorse.  I had to turn to my husband at one point when were were both hot and annoyed and tell him, "you know, some day we are going to miss his willingness to be so helpful."  But the boy thought his "fire cuck bed" was so cool!  He wanted to play up in his bedroom most of this afternoon and tonight, he couldn't stay sitting in his mommy's lap during prayer time, he had to go to his fire truck bed.  He had the hugest grin on his face.  It was like a 16 year old getting their first car.  I asked him if he was proud of his fire truck bed and he said "proud fire truck bed".  So far he has stayed in the bed and gone to sleep.  Hopefully we won't wake up to him wreaking a bunch of havoc in his room and hopefully the cat won't teach him how to open the baby gate too soon : )


photo credit: Poutre via photopin (license)