Ada is wearing me out. She looks innocent, but don’t be fooled!
She’s curious, and busy, and I’m 99% sure she has wheels for feet.
I can’t get anything done because she’s always climbing and into every little thing!
God help me when she figures out how to open door knobs in the next month or so. (We can’t get those door knob covers because then Rosie couldn’t get the doors open.)
Ada can climb like a monkey. She has unnatural upper arm strength, I swear.
She will push a kitchen chair over to the counter, then climb up in the chair, and then climb up onto the counter, open the top cabinets, and begin throwing things out.
She can climb up onto the toilet, then open the medicine cabinet and throw everything she can find into the sink, and then she leans over and turns on the water full blast and splashes in it.
She can climb the big slide outside, then she turns around and slides down head first, crashes and rolls at the bottom, stands up, laughs manically, and climbs up the slide again.
Careful Rosie is the polar opposite. Rosie just worked up the courage to enjoy going down slides LAST MONTH. She’s five!
Ada can also scale the ladder to Rosie’s top bunk at warp speed, then she bounces on the bed and tries to launch herself over the side.
This one scares me the most–I try to keep the door to Rosie’s room closed, but that’s where all of the girls’ toys are and Rosie is always going in and out. If Ada falls from the top bunk she will slam into the wood floor below. It’s about 6.5-7 feet down. I’m terrified thinking of it. I’m almost certain it will happen at some point.
Ada takes off running and sneaks into Rosie’s room whenever she can, and she goes straight up the ladder. I try to watch her constantly, but it’s so hard!
People suggest a pack n’ play to me and that is just laughable. SHE CAN CLIMB RIGHT OUT OF THAT!
See for yourselves, the Ada Monkey.
I’m working hard to teach her boundaries.
It took me two days to teach her not to run in the road. She now walks nicely along on the sidewalk.
It took us about three shopping trips to teach her how to follow along without running away. It’s important to me that I teach my kids how to behave in public rather than just deal with them running off or struggle with using a stroller all the time, so as soon as they are big enough to walk along I begin teaching them.
I just keep redirecting, over and over, while explaining. I know it works on different personality types because Rosie was very sensitive and high strung, and it worked with her. Ada is head strong and plows through people using the force of her big ol’ head, but I could still teach her. You just have to be persistent and don’t let them get away with it one time or they’ll think it’s ok.
Ada always wanted to run the opposite direction from me while laughing. Uh, I don’t think so sister! If you don’t walk along with Momma then I have to carry you. That’s what I tell her. She wants to walk. She totally understood this at 13 months old. She still sometimes stops and gets distracted by things in stores, but we’re working on the next step–if you grab things off of the shelves then I have to carry you. I tell her, “Oh I see that. It needs to stay right there on the shelf. Keep walking!” If she starts to grab things I tell her, “No ma’am. Want Momma to hold you?” Works like a charm, at least when she’s well fed and well rested…
But in the house…oh Ada…it’s much harder because we’re here all the time. I can’t convince her not to climb up the bunk bed ladder, she watches her sister climb it over and over.
Two weeks of redirecting successfully got us past her climb-up-and-jump-on-top-the-kitchen-table phase. That was horrible and exhausting. The kitchen table has been replaced by the bunk bed ladder.
I am seriously considering getting Ada one of those infant sized bike helmets.
It would be cute, right?
Knowing my luck it would cause bald spots on her head from wearing it too much.
Tags: Ada, Ada's skillz, Canon 50mm 1.4, photos, unconditional parenting, videos
I have an Alfie monkey so you have my sympathies – he’s 20 months and regularly scales climbing frames designed for 5-12 year olds. I liken him to the The Terminator because from the moment he wakes til he passes out at night HE. NEVER. STOPS.
Ever.
Does Rosie’s ladder come off of her bed? Or is it mounted on there, could you take it off while not in the room to supervise? The baby on the bunkbed makes me more worried for Rosie than for Ada :) (My little brother pushed my oldest brother off of the top bunk when the older one was going up after putting the baby on the top bunk, and he broke his wrist when the little one was just a bit older than Ada).
I bolted it and started putting it up every morning!