The Great Escape! (week 244)

The day everyone feared has finally come...Christopher has discovered how to escape from his Pack-n-Play. For months, nearly years the Pack-n-Play has reliably served a number of functions to keep Christopher safe from himself and give the family peace of mind that he is not drinking an air freshener, licking a light socket, or drawing on the wall. For good times and bad, from naps to time-outs; the PNP has traveled the neighborhood for barbecues, driven the coast on grandparent weekends, and camped-out in the kitchen on long sleepless nights at home. And up until this week, Christopher was secured safely inside with no risk for escape. Everything changed on a Friday afternoon this week during nap time, when he pulled himself to the bed, climbed out of the crib, calmly open the bedroom door, and walked-out into the living room with a giant smile on his face.

We all knew that we couldn't keep Chubbs contained forever. For some time he knew how to unlock the door to the garage, open the front screen door, and has no problem getting into and out of the bathroom, bathtub, and shower. But now, as he gets closer and closer to his 2nd birthday, there are only a few places left that we can reliably restrain him. All that may be left is to strap him into his car seat, and then only then under full time observation. Keeping little brothers safe is never static. You have to keep monitoring and adjusting your strategies as they get bigger, smarter, and more mischievous. I guess the best hope is to teach him responsibility and to help him to understand that it is in his best interest to keep himself safe. He just doesn't have a healthy fear of what can happen like I have developed over 4 years in the world. For the time being, we all have to stay on our toes.

This weekend the Silver Sharks also made a great escape with a win over the vaunted the Green Goblins. It was definitely the most exciting game yet, against the best team that we have played. They took a lot of shots on our goal and I made a number of saves, including one down to the last minute or two that sealed the victory. We won 2-1 and the parents were all fired-up along the sideline. Moving to a 5-1 record did not come without a cost, at least three kids cried and had to be taken off the field over the course of a very physical game. But we held our own against a team that had some good players and we keep getting better every week!