Underparenting, Part II

One brief anecdote I forgot from our recent trip to Nana and Gong-Gong's house:

Whenever we go somewhere new, or somewhere we haven't been for awhile, like most kids, it takes Bry a little while to warm up to his surroundings. The same was true during our recent visit. At first, Bry stuck close to Steve and I, but soon enough, was off exploring on his own. Back when Bry was prone to sticking anything and everything in his mouth and was a little less steady on his feet, we had to be really vigilant at other people's non-babyproofed houses in order to ensure that Bry didn't choke on a train wheel or fall down a flight of stairs. As Bry has gotten older, more dexterous, and less orally fixated, we've worried less about constantly watching him like a hawk.

So it shouldn't have been much of a surprise when, on our next to last day in Wisconsin, we heard a faint "Mama!" coming from what sounded like overhead. I was in the living room, Steve was in the kitchen, my mom was walking down the hall, and each of us had assumed that Bry was with a responsible adult. Turns out he was stealthily making his way up the stairs in the front hall until he reached the landing, which looks out over the living room, without any of us being the wiser. Score one for Bry's independence and zero for Bry's parents' parenting skills.