The Herrins from Scratch: Daredevil

Standing on the table...don't worry we're right
behind her...

In the past couple of weeks, our child has turned into a little Daredevil. I know she doesn't get this from me because I am the least thrill seeking person I know. I can't even stomach roller coasters. As a child, the church would take trips to Six Flags...I'd promptly declined the invite...when I spent 6 weeks in Europe, the group I was traveling with all took an amazing trip to Interleukin to go canyoning...I opted to travel with my friend to Florence to marvel at the art instead. Ella just didn't get this streak from me! Brent is more adventurous than I am...he loves roller coasters...but he hates heights! All around, I wouldn't say that we are the most daring couple. But Ella is a stunt woman, daredevil for sure.

It all started about a week ago. Until then, Ella had been incredibly cautious. She was so cautious I think it's partly why it took her over 12 months to walk...she was afraid to fall. Um, wait, where did that fear go?? She now RUNS through our house full speed ahead when she needs to get somewhere. She likes to climb over the door that does not open in her Cozy Coupe to get inside just because she likes the challenge, instead of sitting on little moped looking toy, she opts to stand on the seat. Anything that is dangerous...she's going to do it. She can climb onto anything now. This includes couches, chairs and ottomans. The other day, she climbed onto the chair, onto the arm of the chair, onto the table where the lamp sits so she could bang on the window. I shouldn't have let her do it...I know...but I was seriously trying to figure out how well she can actually climb. The answer...she can climb really well. We now have something blocking the chair so she can no longer scale up to the window.

The real kicker though is the face first mosh pit dive off anything with any height. This began Friday. She climbed up onto a small red ottoman that we had off to the side (everything is kind of rearranged b/c we are packing). Brent walked over to take her off, right about the time she literally jumped and dove face first toward the hardwood floor. Thankfully, he caught her. The second ocurrance happened yesterday... it was dinner time and we had ordered take out. We were pulling everything out of the bags when Ella jumped up on the couch, turned around and mosh pit dove off of the couch onto the rug. She landed on her knees without injury...Thank Goodness...we were very lucky. SOOOO, new rule at our house, if you can't be within 5 feet of her with your eyes directly on her...she needs to be in the playpen in case she decides to climb and jump. It's the only way we can guarantee she will stay safe. She is a wild one for sure. Somehow our cautious little baby has turned into what seems like a daredevil toddler just overnight. We are just praying she works through her wild streak as a small child...don't think I could handle her going sky diving or bungee jumping someday. This may be a normal toddler thing, but for us it's all new and we find ourselves shaking our heads saying, "Did she really just do that?" very frequently these days. Oh, Little Miss Wild Thing, what are we going to do with you?? :)