Spiderman?

  Ever since Benjamin started crawling and subsequently walking we improvised a containment strategy. The plan consisted of using the sectional sofa, entertainment center and sliding glass doors. By sliding the ottoman over to the sliders and end table as well as using his pack-n-play as the other gate by the sofa and entertainment center we successfully made a play area for him that was safe large enough for him to play with his toys. That was until this week.

  As I was working in my office I heard Benjamin playing in what has come to be called the Kiddie Corral. Then what I heard was part scary but it also made me proud. I heard giggling and footsteps. I turned around to find Benjamin standing in the doorway of my office smiling and clapping. He had freed himself from the Corral.

  I wondered how he'd done it. I looked and the Kiddie Corral was as I had left it. He must've climbed on the sofa and walked to the end before climbing down. But how?

  Last night I watched in amazement as he demonstrated. He either pulls the throw pillows on the floor and uses them as his booster step or his pack-n-play like the picture above. 

  I have a sense of pride about how smart and innovative my child has become. He's resourceful and physically adept at tackling challenges. He has learned how he can pull himself up on the pack-n-play with his arms and feet and then climb on to the sofa. Once on the sofa it's an easy climb down to freedom.

  Like I said I'm fascinated by how smart he is. I just wished it was because he was solving algebraic problems IN the Kiddie Corral not because he's learned how to spring himself from the pokey.