Beelzebub the Monkey

Yesterday when I picked Luke up from daycare, I joked "And how did little Beelzebub do today?"

Luke is not quite the child I envisioned that I would have. We spent an hour at the park and I stopped him from running in the street no less than five times. He went down a slide that was obviously not designed for a 17 month old - it was a tube slide, and we could hear him clunking from side to side and head over heels from top to bottom. He emerged each time with a grin. Even when a three year old slid down right on top of him, his happiness didn't waver.

I watched the other children near his age - the 16 month olds toddling around with mommies holding both hands. Luke, meanwhile, headed up the netting and the complex climbing gyms. It's not surprising to me when daycare tells me that they have a problem with him climbing on the furniture. My son is part monkey.

I feel like we missed out on a developmental stage - you know, the one where they tentatively try out new things and look to mom for reassurance? Because this kid needs no reassurance from me, only an occasional boost where his height fails him on the playground equipment.

This morning he demonstrated his monkey climb down from our bed. As I've stated, our bed is unusually high off the ground - three and a half feet, I'm guessing. Next to it, spaced about 18 inches away, we have a chair that now serves to hold Esposo's clothes. Last week, Luke demonstrated that he could climb onto the bed by standing on the arm of the chair and leaning towards the bed.

Now he crawls down from the bed by leaning over and grabbing the arm of the chair. He crawls down head first.

Just like a determined personality, agility is a good thing. Which doesn't mean I don't want to duct tape lead weights to his feet.