Photo: iStockphoto
Even before my grandson Xavier could crawl, he?d wiggle and squirm his way across the floor to get the toy he wanted?or to reach the cat food dish we didn?t want him to touch. Most babies can be distracted with a toy or treat. Not Xavier. If he has his heart set on unplugging the lamp, he?ll just keep heading back to it, no matter how many times you take him out of the room and try to tempt him with a fire truck or muffin.
That?s one determined baby.
Fleur Bickford knows what it?s like. Her daughter Sarah, now three, started walking at nine months and ?very quickly progressed to running,? says Bickford. And Sarah seemed to see her mom?s attempts at babyproofing as just another challenge. ?We had to get locks for the fridge and all the cabinets, but it wouldn?t take her long to figure out how to get around them. Once I went upstairs and when I came back, she had gotten eggs out of the fridge and was cracking them on the coffee table.? Sarah saw chairs as stepping stones to help her get onto counters and other high places. Bickford used bungee cords to attach the kitchen chairs to the table legs so Sarah couldn?t pull them out and climb up. But that only worked until Sarah figured out how to undo the cords.
Determined babies also tend to want to do things themselves. Xavier was never into spoon-feeding?he wanted to hold the spoon himself and pick up the food with his fingers. Bickford says Sarah?s thing was dressing herself, and she?d dissolve into tears if...