No Climbing

Maybe it’s because it wasn’t allowed, or perhaps it’s because my guys are such peanuts, but Tiny and Buba weren’t into climbing when all their friends started doing it. Sometime in the fall, they both attempted to climb up on the couch, but I pulled them off and told them, “No climbing.” When they tried again, I put them in time out, and that was pretty much the end of the climbing attempts…

until the holiday break.

T was home for a little over a week, and even though he knew that I didn’t allow climbing, he let Tiny and Buba climb up on the chair and couches. I explained to him that my biggest fear wasn’t the climbing up, it was the falling off. Although he was with them when they were climbing, I can’t always be there when I’m solo parenting to make sure they’re being safe. And I’d rather forbid the climbing than have to deal with nasty spills off the couch.

But it was too late. The damage was done, and there was no longer anything I could do to keep Tiny and Buba from climbing on (and falling off) the furniture. A few times I removed the chair and put in in a room that was gated off, and after I caught them jumping on the couch, I penned them in the kitchen. But those were not great solutions. So, we came up with a better one…

No, you’re not seeing things. That is, in fact a Kangaroo Climber in our living room. It used to be in our front yard,

but T and I agreed that Tiny and Buba really needed to be allowed to climb something in the house. So Tuesday night, T brought it inside and cleaned it off. Buba and Tiny were instantly into it. And they’ve spent the better part of the last three days playing with the climber.

Over the summer,  it took a lot for Buba and Tiny to hoist themselves up the the platform at the top of the slide. But now they can do it with seemingly little effort. And while there is obviously still a risk of falling, I’m just not as worried about it when they’re on the climber. They’re holding on with their hands and gripping with their feet, rather than just bopping around on squishy cushions. They’ve had a couple of minor spills, but they’re falling with more control.

And since we brought the climber inside, there has been significantly less climbing on the furniture- maybe 5% of what there used to be. I’m not thrilled to have the climber in the living room, but spring will be here soon enough, and then the climber will go back out into the yard. Until then, they’re happy, so I’m happy.