Have I mentioned before that Elsa likes to climb. Yes. I’m sure I have.

She is trying to get on top of everything. For months she’s been climbing on the couch, and off again. Thanks to the ‘mates bed’ frame on Merrin’s bed Elsa’s really close to getting up there on her own, without the aid of one of the two stepping stools we now have to hide while Elsa is awake.

A couple of weeks ago she found her way on top of the coffee table. Today I watched her over and over again get on top of it by merely using her protuding baby belly as a fulcrum to leverage herself up.

Today while I was putting supper together – lentil loaf I made last night and warmed up today, with cucumber & red pepper on the side – I heard her at the kitchen table. When I had a second I turned around and she was standing on top of one of the narrow benches we use as chairs.

Also today, once she was finished smashing her lentil loaf into nearly everything except her mouth, she climbed up on one of the dining room table chairs. She didn’t stand in it, just sat. Presumably to attempt to see our view of the table during supper.

But at least it was a more successful dining room chair attempt than yesterday.

My cousin Lori, who grew up in Ottawa but now lives near Truro, was in town on business. She is newly pregnant, just entering her second trimester. This is her first pregnancy and the last time I saw her I was just entering my second trimester of my first pregnancy. Weird, huh.

Anyway amidst all the baby talk and the hopefully not so lame nor unsolicited parenthood advice Elsa decided to try to climb one of the dining room chairs. But she attempted to scale it from the back. Naturally she didn’t get very far before falling flat on her back, and then the chair falling on top of her. And then she cried and cried and screamed and cried some more for a couple of minutes.

Thankfully she scared herself more than she hurt herself – nothing a couple minutes of mommy cuddle and rocking time followed by jumping & dancing in mommy’s arms time couldn’t fix.

As for how much psychological damage we did to Lori, well, I’m not sure about that.

*As in, Sir Edmund