Watch Your Step

We are trying to teach Shlomo an important lesson: Don’t get into a place that you can’t get out of.

That is, we are trying to teach him this lesson, literally.  I still have a hard time with this lesson in a figurative sense, although, to my credit, I usually manage it (thank G-d, may it continue).

Listen here, Shlomo, and listen well:

DO NOT get into a place that you can’t get out of.

That means don’t lock yourself in the bathroom, if you’ve never tried unlocking that sticky lock before.  And don’t break the doorknob.  (No, he didn’t do this; why would you even think so?)

That means don’t climb into the playpen if you can’t get out of it by yourself.

That means don’t climb onto a chair that you’re afraid to get off of, because it’s too high and too narrow.

That means don’t get onto a couch that you don’t want to get off of.  It means don’t climb up stairs that you don’t want to climb down.  It means don’t get onto a riding toy that you’re scared to get off of.  (All of which, to your credit, you have managed to conquer, albeit after some prodding.)

It means, in four words:  Think (or look) before you leap.  Not before you open your mouth, or commit to something.  Before you leap – or run, or climb – physically.  Especially into playpens, and onto horizontal surfaces.

Although, Shlomo, to your credit, you seem to do a lot of looking and thinking before you do anything – which means fewer bumps, falls, and bruises for you.  And, apparently, it runs in [your father’s] family – your grandmother said that all of her kids were like that.

See, here’s the rule: Whoever got you into that situation, has to get you out.  It’s hard to enforce this rule right now, but we’re trying.

So it goes like this:  I put you in the playpen, I take you out.  Abba (Daddy) puts you in the playpen, Abba takes you out.  You put yourself into the playpen – better get yourself out.  You’re right, I usually give in to this one.  But only after a few minutes, which, at your age, probably feels like fifteen minutes.  I even tried to teach you how to climb out!  (Yes, you read that right.  I tried to teach you how to climb out, knowing full well that this skill would be applied, almost immediately, to your crib.  Luckily for me, the sides of your playpen are higher than those of the crib (or the mattress is lower, whichever), and you are too careful a toddler to try something that doesn’t look safe.  Or maybe you’re too much of a perfectionist to try something that you’re not certain you’ll succeed at.  Either way, I count myself lucky, and pray that you continue to be this way, and that all your siblings are like this, too.)

Sometimes, though, you’re just a bit too curious.  It runs in the family, it’s true.  But not everything that runs in the family is beneficial.  So, try to curb it – at least until you’re sure that what you’re doing is a good idea.