Baby Got Back

Yes, this is a picture of my baby's rear end. That is not the point of the picture, though. The point is what she is doing in the picture. You see, she started crawling last month and since then her learning curve has skyrocketed. For those of you who have not been in my living room (oh wait, that's probably ALL of you reading this) this is a picture of our end table next to our couch. Underneath the table is a shelf that I would guess is about 3 inches off of the floor. Normally, until the in-laws arrived a couple of weeks ago, this shelf is stacked with old newspapers. I'm thinking I should have left them now. Today, when I looked up long enough from my mail, I wondered where Alexis had gone. Sure enough, she had crawled UP onto the shelf of the table and was heading for the wires "hidden" behind it. (This girl can smell a wire/cable in a 5 mile radius.) I was so shocked that I grabbed her out of there as quickly as I could. But the second time, I managed to get the camera and take a picture to send to my husband at work. (He informs me it is now the wallpaper on his computer.) Back in the living room and reading my mail again, I look up to see Alexis has crawled over to the stairs, not unusual as she likes to use the bottom stair to pull herself up to her knees. I look up from my mail again to see that she has now stood up using the bottom stair. This is a first on the stairs, but she has been pulling herself up for a few days. I smile and go back to my mail. I look up again to make sure I don't need to go rescue her from falling back on her bum, and what do I find? My darling daughter has CLIMBED TO THE NEXT STEP!!! ALL BY HERSELF!!! In complete disbelief, I run over to grab her before she falls off, so of course no picture. I pick up the phone to call my husband. He's out getting lunch. So I call my parents because I just have to share the news with someone and Isabel just doesn't understand why Mommy is so excited. I told my parents, I told my husband, and now I'm telling you. Who put my baby on hyperspeed? Needless to say, the gates are going back up TONIGHT!