Climbing the Walls

July 19, 2007

Well, Mom, it’s now closer to happening than ever before. I’m talking about the danger my mom has been worried about ever since we built our house a couple years back. See, Julie and I each had some things that we really wanted in our home. One thing I really wanted was a nice big open family room with a loft above it. Well, it’s kind of been a running joke that sooner or later our boys would figure out that they could actually jump off the balcony. Last Christmas we got a trampoline and when my parents heard about it they were nervous right away that we’d set it up in the family room, thus further enticing the boys to jump. We joked about having little head dents in the ceiling. Well, mom, no worries, they haven’t actually jumped yet.

HOWEVER…Peyton and Soren were in trouble the other day and were sitting on the couch in the family room getting a good talking-to from me. As we were talking something prompted Soren to say, “well, yeah dad, Peyton climbed up over the railing today” and he pointed up toward the loft and looked at Peyton with a look of pure admiration that only a younger brother could have for an older. This stopped me in mid-sentence.

The wall and railing in question

“What?”, I asked.

“Peyton climbed up the wall and over the railing, Dad”, said Soren.

“All the way up and over?”

“uh-huh” they both said, giggling.

My eyes got wide. It was one of those parenting moments when you know you’re supposed to be mad, but the whole situation sure makes it tough. I turned to Julie, who was doing dishes in the kitchen, with a stern look on my face.

“WOW!”, she said, eyes wide.

The boys broke out in laughter as they saw how impressed their mom was with Peyton’s feat. There went my ability to stay stern-faced.

Afterwards of course, I did lecture them on the danger of doing that, but for the first time I realized that just maybe, my mom was right about the possibilities of that balcony.

Posted in Crazy Kids, Family Life