The Great Escape

Zachary has finally discovered that you can actually *ride* (rather than just push) the red rocket he got way back for his birthday (as in, the day he was born).

In the past few weeks, we've been starting to prepare for Zachary's transition to a big boy room and bed. Meh has done a fabulous job sketching out our rooms' dimensions and virtually rearranging furniture as we plan out the guest room merging into the office/craft room to give Zachary his own room. One of the first Zachary touches in his future room was that Snoopy/Red Baron mobile we assembled with mima and papa. He frequently peeks into his soon-to-be room and happily says "ah-pah!" (airplane), and also spends occasional snuggle time just laying on the guest bed looking up at the circling cardboard planes. I don't think I ever posted his initial reaction:

On Thursday, the three of us went to everyone's favorite Swedish flat pack store to choose a little man dresser and bed -- and as it turned out, also bedding (they had some pseudo-crayon truck/bus/car patterned duvet covers; Zachary looked at one, said 'bah!' (bus), and we knew we'd found his set). As usual, they were out of stock of one thing that Meh wanted for the office, so Zachary and I queued up a return trip today while Meh was at work. Zachary had a great time on both occasions, particularly enjoying the lighting and kids sections of the store (as well as when I'd give him a little countdown to a speed boost in the cart). After we got back, I started putting together his new bunk bed while he snuggled on the guest bed with his cozy new duvet (definitely a winner!) and watched the airplane mobile. He got a little drowsy, so we read some stories (this one has become a recent favorite, often requiring 4 or more sequential readings) and I put him to bed for his nap.

Zachary naps often involve audible thumps (squirming around to get cozy) and occasionally even a little talking (to himself or his blanket?) that can be heard from downstairs. However, today's nap featured some unusual and unidentified sounds, so I decided to sneak upstairs and investigate. No sneaking was necessary though; as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw him smiling down at me from the top of the staircase. Yup, it took 2 1/3 years, but he finally escaped the crib and was apparently waiting for me to notice him waiting at the top of the stairs.

As a short term solution, Meh is removing the bumper from the crib (we suspect he was using it as a boost up), but I think we'll be moving him to his big boy bed a little sooner than we'd thought - perfect timing that I just happen to be assembling it today!