The Great Escape

Yes, it has happened. Miss Emma Grace has learned how to climb out of her crib. Today at naptime she discovered how to throw her leg over the rail and lower herself to the floor. This was punctuated by a brief and victorious “YEAH!” (from Emma, not me). She quickly found me vacuuming the stairs, toddled up and greeted me (“HI!”). Really, despite the obvious fear and dread I should have been feeling, I could only laugh. I knew this time would come, but I somehow thought there would be some bumping of her head or tell tale thumping when she fell out at last. So to see how this phenomenon occurred, Jim and I left the door cracked and quietly watched from the other side. Emma stood up, waited, then hitched her leg up like she was mounting a horse, then in one fell swoop she lowered herself a little and jumped the rest of the way to the ground, landing squarely on her feet. While this may foreshadow a future gymnast, we decided to nip the activity in the bud when it had to do with escaping from her crib. I must mention that both of us were silently proud of the agility and grace she exuded. We cheered her flawless landing (no head bumps!) and basked in her new accomplishment. Then we scolded her and put her back to bed. All in a day’s work of parenting.

Emma recently had another freedom of exploration at the mall. We let her out of her stroller to walk around with us. Unfortunately, I had the short sightedness to let her off right next to the bulk candy store “Sweets from Heaven”. Predictably, Emma bee-lined for the brightly colored palace of goodness. Once we got past that, Emma enjoyed leading us around the mall in general. We did 4 or 5 trips up and down the escalators (“Whee!!!”) and a mini diversion into the Disney Store, despite our best attempts to block it from her sight. We did manage to get out without buying anything for her, just don’t ask me how.