One of the R.A.'s favorite pastimes is climbing. He's quite agile and prefers to climb items not really intended for climbing such as window sills, counters, televisions, computer monitors, microwaves, high chairs, his sister's easel, his father's bureau. Stuff like that. What's that? You're suggesting we take him to a park where there is equipment meant for climbing? What a super idea! Why didn't we think of that? Okay, All Star, before you start being all superior-ishy let me stop you there. Despite popular opinion deeming us as two steps below stupid, we did take the R.A. to the park where, of course, he was terrified of the jungle gym. We tried to coax him on to it. Nope. We showed him how to climb it. Nope. At one point my husband even attempted to put the R.A. on the equipment only to be rewarded with a spectacular freak out during which we hastily left the park after the other adults gave us filthy looks because we made our kid cry.
To recap - jungle gym out, unsafe items in the home in.
The R.A.'s favorite thing to climb is his father's bureau. Once he hoists himself up he likes to sit in the top drawer (the sock drawer) and just ruminate on his life. He can see the entire room from this perch. It's one of the few moments when the R.A. is relatively still. In addition to the sock drawer being his equivalent of a meditation tree house, the R.A. also uses it as a storage facility. My husband has found a flashlight, a screwdriver, Dum Dum wrappers,and other various R.A. ephemera in his sock drawer. The items are quite varied. I think they may be part of his escape kit.
Despite being a gifted climber, the R.A. isn't so hot at getting himself down from spots, including the sock drawer. Many times the R.A. ends up stranding himself in the dismount. Once I found him hanging almost upside down, dangling by one leg which was caught in between two drawers. He was furious not so much that I apparently took my own sweet time to rescue him but that the bureau didn't cooperate and trapped him. I should also point out that when the R.A. is stranded he very rarely cries out. (I won't tell you how long he has been stranded on certain occasions...) Also interesting is that despite his long track record of becoming stranded, the R.A. still climbs only to end up stranded. Unlike a "neuro-typical" child who would have such an experience once and then file it under "Heck No Never Again" the R.A. will keep at it and keep at as if this time it will be different and then be livid when it isn't. "I don't understand it. I did it exactly the same way that I did the 14 previous times and I still ended up stuck. What gives?" The R.A. must come from an extremely tenacious planet that doesn't have a grip on statistics or probability.
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