C is for Climber

Adelaida was never very skilled in the "gross motor skills" area of development. She wasn't so far behind that we were worried, but she was always a little slower than other kids to start doing new skills like crawling, walking, running, and climbing. In fact, she was 2 1/2 years old before she was able to climb onto a sofa or into a kitchen chair without help.

And based on our experiences with Adelaida, we expected Estella and Cordelia to develop in the same general way.

We were wrong.

In most ways, Cordelia has had very typical gross motor skills development, with sitting up, crawling, and walking all occurring at the expected times. But Cordelia is happiest when she is up high. She started crawling up the stairs long before Estella did, and spent a fair amount of time on the shelf of the changing table before she could walk.

After she started walking, her climbing became more daring. One day I walked into the playroom and saw her sitting on top of the lego table, with a huge "I'm so proud of myself" grin on her face.


The baby doll stroller became her favorite seat, and she even used the stroller as a stepping stool to climb up on the huge printer box that spent some time in our dining room.


Now, because Adelaida is so small for her age and because she has never been much of a climber, we purchased a step stool that we keep in our downstairs bathroom in front of the sink. Adelaida climbs up on the step stool to wash her hands. Well, one day I walked into the bathroom and saw this:


Cordelia had climbed up the step stool and into the sink!


(Before you call Child Protective Services, my first reaction on seeing Cordelia sitting in the sink was NOT to go get the camera so I could post this on my blog. I did the responsible thing and immediately got her out of the sink and folded up the step stool so she couldn't do it again. But later, when Dale was home, I did set her in the sink again, with the camera handy, to try to recapture the moment. Don't worry, Dale is just outside the field of view, ready to catch her if she falls.)

She apparently enjoyed herself so much that she has tried to repeat the performance several times. To my knowledge, though, she's never gotten above the second step, and we try to keep the bathroom door closed now whenever she's awake!