All for not

You may remember I've written a little bit about baby gates.

I guess I've become the de facto baby gate expert on my block. Friends and neighbors are now following up the "How's it going?" with a comment about the Gate Depression. And when they come over, they see the gate into the kitchen and ask if it's the one that caused so much trouble. In fact, I have to show most of these guests how to operate this gate -- the only one I've liked since the beginning.

It's simple, I tell them. Just pull up and swing. After a time or two, they get it and move freely in and out of it.

As a parent, I've anticipated a lot of things -- the newspaper on the table needs to be moved to the center because little fingers can now reach onto the edge. Or opening a cabinet in front of Jasper is an invitation for him to give it a try. And out of sight no longer means out of mind.

But I wasn't prepared for this.

Last night, as I was slicing some veggies to throw on the grill, I watched as my little angel did his drunk-sailor walk over to that gate, fought with it for about 10 second and then with ease, opened it right up and walked through.

With horror, I put down the knife (good mom points), retrieved him and shut the gate. A fluke, I thought. Back to the veggies. Then, once again he did the same thing, with more ease than a new adult guest to the house, he opened the gate.

Crap. And crap again when I told Seth, who responded: "Oh yeah, I saw him do that this afternoon."

Three times in one afternoon can only mean the boy knows what he's doing.

So it appears the joke's on me. Seth and I talked last night about how Jasper's rapid cognitive and physical growth may not be a good thing. Bad mommy and daddy.

Well, on the up side, maybe I won't get stuck behind gates anymore, and Jasper can now show visitors how to maneuver through our baby-proof house.