Captain has new tricks up his sleeve

I'll admit I'm slightly biased and not entirely objective on the subject of my 15-month-old grandson, Capt. Adorable.

But after you hear the latest Capt. Adorable saga, you'll agree this kid is definitely Something Else. We're just not exactly sure what.

Here's the scene: A week ago, I baby-sat while the Captain's parents - my daughter and son-in-law - had a rare date night. They live in Huntsville, and I visit as many times as I can sneak away without my husband saying, "Don't you think they'd like some time alone, maybe?"

Often I stay with the Captain or take him to the park to give his parents a break, and he never minds that his mom and dad aren't there.

Even though it'd been a while that I'd baby-sat at night, I didn't anticipate a problem. Besides, his parents have trained him so well, he pretty much puts himself to sleep.

All went well. At first. He didn't care when his parents left. We played and watched "Sid the Science Kid," and I already was awarding myself the Good Grandma Trophy.

Around bath time, he began to realize it was just me and him. He was not happy. By bedtime he'd progressed to full-blown crying, so I followed instructions and put him in his crib, turned off the light, closed the doors and left the room.

I was sitting on the couch a couple minutes later listening to his muffled cries when I heard a door creak. But before I could figure out why a door was creaking when there was nobody around to make it creak, I saw the door open and a tearful little face peer around the corner.

I don't know who was more stunned - me or him - to realize that a 14 3/4-month-old baby could climb out of his crib and open a door in less time than I could find a rerun of "Law and Order."

Turns out that he wasn't really "climbing" anyway. This kid, who's been walking since before he was 10 months, and has legs stronger than mine, was by sheer strength and force of will swinging one leg up to the top railing of his crib, pulling the rest of his body up and balancing on his tummy before launching himself onto the floor, where he'd jump up and toddle away to the door. Yikes.

He did it two more times before his mommy came home - and once after she was there, although she caught him in mid-crib-

railing launch. I couldn't believe it. How do you keep a 15-month-old baby from climbing out of his crib?

Luckily, he hasn't repeated his trick since that night, and we're hoping he's forgotten he knows how to do it - until the next I baby-sit, probably.

Cathy Wood is a freelance writer in the Shoals. For more from her, visit TimesDaily.com.