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What? Why? Where’s she learn that?!

Sorry to have been out of touch but I got home from Germany with 1 day to do my laundry and turn around to head to Coventry (north of London) for a conference (where yours truly was speaking) and then up to Wales for another fantastic trauma course. Whew. Not much time to catch my breath. Which I promptly lost again when I got home and saw Zoe’s new trick: climbing stairs. In fact, I just watched both my infants climb all 15 stairs to the living room. Gernot was laughing. I was horrified. No one is safe anymore.

The books say that most infants learn to ascend stairs at about 11 months, a few months after learning to crawl. Zoe is 8 months. I really wasn’t prepared for this.  I had the baby gates installed more to keep them for accidentally falling down the stairs, not coming up after me. At least the end result is the same: incredibly secure gates at either end of the stairs. So secure, in fact, that after I installed them I had to call the hotline on the box to find out how to open them. (Pull the blue handle, Ma’am. I am pulling the blue handle! Help me!)
You all know that I’m not the world’s biggest believer in childproofing, in that I think it makes people complacent while their children learn problem-solving skills. On the other hand, big money items like staircases, medications and chemicals are entirely off limits while my less-dangerous personal belongings remain in reach as we try to teach them the meaning of, “Nein!” (Don’t mock. You can see it on Eva’s face when she finds something she knows is off limits left in her area. There is a look of disbelief, followed by laughter, quickly replaced with resignation and a shoulder shrug when I realize my mistake and take my diet Coke away.)
Anyway, the long and the short of it is this: kids don’t read textbooks. They develop on their own schedule in their own time. Some are faster and some need a little prompting. But however they do it, I guarantee you’ll be surprised it when new skills suddenly appear. So plan ahead, anticipate, preempt. And show them the books so they at least have a better understanding of your expectations. I’ve got Zoe downstairs right now, studying one of my medical texts as I write this. Of course, she’s probably highlighting the words she needs to look up later…

Dr. Lara Zibners, Oct 10, 2010

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