Never turn your back

We made a family trip to Lowe's tonight. The kids were tired and wound, which meant there was no way we could actually focus on anything without the kids scaling shelves, pretending to sleep on bags of fertilizer or crashing to the concrete floor off the flatbed cart.

So guess which of those three actually happened? Yup, all of them. I wish I could make this stuff up, but my children are really and truly part monkey.

So I scooped a red-faced, hysterical Leah off the floor and brought an end to our home improvement browsing. Why we try over and over I will never know. Parents are obviously slow learners. But my baby girl was fine by the time we got to the checkout and will probably only have a small red mark on her head in the morning. She's tough stuff my girl. Has been since day 1. I should have seen it coming.

Mommy oblivious to what this would lead to (Sept 2009)

She was walking by 10 months, just like her big brother, and starting climbing whatever she could get her hands on.

A musician from the start (Feb 2010)

I fought it tooth and nail. I hid every toy that could be used as a step to get to something else.

Singing to the backyard (March 2010)

So she used my furniture. I slowly started giving up. I learned I couldn't leave a room for 30 seconds without her climbing onto something, anything!

A box is a good place to sit (May 2010)

But of course, sometimes it was cute. And she is ALWAYS cute, so she knows she can get away with a LOT. Sigh.

Bouncy girl (July 2010)

Now I've embraced it, sorta. She's taken to stealing her brother's bathroom stool and carrying it into the kitchen to try to get to things. She can almost reach the counters, which will bring in the era where everything is piled at the back of the countertops or the exact middle of the island. I didn't miss that one.

And then it will be something else. And something else. I'm grateful we don't have any trees, because for sure she would be at the top, testing to see if she could fly.

It'll be the swingset instead...