Okay, so here’s the thing — I am all about personal responsibility. It irks me to no end when people play the victim-blame-game and can’t fess up to the reality that they are, in essence, the master of their own destiny. Own it.

Me, owning it.

Let’s take for example yesterday afternoon when I made a really poor choice. Stella and I were playing a game of peek-a-boo in her room — she in her crib, me on the floor, and Steve diligently Swiffering the loveliness that his our new wood flooring (hence the need to keep her contained). It was at this moment that I had two choices: 1) ask Stella if she can climb out of her crib, 2) don’t ask Stella if she can climb out of her crib. I’ll give you one guess which choice I made.

Yup, with no help or guidance from yours truly, she simply hiked her leg up and swung it over as if she were going to do one of those big spins on the monkey bars. She then hoisted the entirety of her body up so that she was then straddling the railing. Then, using her ninja-like precision, she gracefully maneuvered her body until she was parallel to the mattress — balancing lengthwise on the rail. With a concentrated look, and muscle control that rivals an olympic gymnast, she then proceeded to scootch herself down towards the floor.

And what was I doing this entire time? I stood there, agog at the simplicity of it all. It was like she had been working with a trainer on the side, waiting for this exact moment when I would challenge her to such a task. How’s that for a mother-daughter connection? She knows that it is only a matter of time before I do something as stupid as asking her child if she can climb out of her crib!

So guess what everybody? Stella now knows how to climb out of her crib. Who do we have to thank? Right again!

This morning when we went in to get her we had the usual chit-chat with her about water, poop, blue, goggy (doggy), and then I said to her, “Are you ready to get up Stella?” She replied, “Yeah,” and proceeded to hike her leg up over the side of the crib…