Seemingly overnight, Cash has gone from that baby who would remain in the spot you placed him in, to the Energizer bunny scooting, crawling, and now, working on pulling himself up on household items with the thought to go anywhere and everywhere.
I’ve wished for this time for a while for his sake. I sympathized with his lack of mobility up until recently. For his life up to this point, he had to stay where we set him and travel to wherever we carried him. I had those second thoughts when I’d scoop him up and walk him to the porch from the living room or vice versa, that he’d be thinking, “Hey, I was enjoying myself in there and now cuz YOU want me to leave, I have to leave!
So, I’m excited to watch him explore his interests and go where he wants to go…without harming himself, of course. Keeping him from harm is a big topic with Meghan and I these days. We got a huge box of plastic outlet covers that I’ve nearly emptied filling in all the open outlets all over the house. We’ve placed bumpers on furniture corners and entire bumper strips along the fireplace.
To keep us on our toes, one of the first moves Cash made was to crawl over to a bumper stuck to a corner of our media console and rip it from its adhesive attachment, then turn and smile at us while held it in his hand…which got us bolting from our seats as he turned towards the now, unprotected sharp corner with the bumper in his hand.
Leaving his expanding, colorful toys behind, he’ll scoot to a trash can, tip it over and attempt to put each object in this mouth, very raccoon-esque. When I respond with a “yucky” face and response, he’ll look up at me innocently and sweetly as if to say, “I have no idea why you’re discouraging me from putting a four-day old, spotted brown, apple core in my mouth.”
Eat good apples, that’s all I’m sayin’.
His middle name is Michael but it could be Danger. While my hot coffee sits on a TV tray, he’ll scoot over and give the skinny base a good rocking back and forth. As my heartbeat skips, I steady the wobbly contraption with my hands while softly scolding”no-no” to which he grins and giggles unaware of consequences.
That’s our parental job, isn’t it? To make him aware of consequences as he moves forward, to protect him from danger as much as possible but also let him explore his interests. For the rest of his life.
Your parents want you to go where you want to go and experience it all, buddy. As you explore objects and places and the world, keep in mind the consequences of your actions and be safe. And when you fall short, or need to go in a new direction…always remember, how to pull yourself up and move forward.
Wisconsin Dadger 
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