Our Little Problem Solver

Dallas has been keeping us on our toes pretty much since birth. He got mobile early on in his career and hasn't ever seemed to stop moving, exploring, and breaking through boundaries except to sleep.

Cam has started to tape the childproof doorknobs together with packing tape because Dallas has popping those things off the door down to a science. Dallas has also been known to improvise and use baby-wipe containers to give him that little extra boost to - among other things - reach light switches or climb into his sister's crib.

His ingenuity exasperates and excites us. The other day he topped himself. He was carrying in a bag of three cereal boxes from the car. The cereal was stretching the bag to its limits; Dallas had to hold each bag handle with one hand. When he got to the garage stairs he reached a seeming impasse: the stairs are a little farther apart than normal steps and Dallas needs a free hand to steady himself. Dallas tried to hold the bag with one hand by stretching his thumb and pinky to their extremes. It worked for a moment and then his pinky popped out.

At this point I overtook Dallas and continued into the house thinking, "If he hasn't come in by the time I get the milk put away in the fridge, I'll come back and help him." Before I had gotten the fridge door closed Dallas came tromping in the house carrying one box of cereal. Without any prompting he set the box on the table, turned around and proceeded to bring in the other two boxes.

I guess this probably doesn't seem like much to many people, but I am proud of my two and a half year-old for thinking outside the box and getting his task done against all odds!