Baby Jessica

Sam has a lot of nicknames. Sometimes we call him "Baby Jessica" after Jessica McClure who, in 1989, at the age of 18 months, fell down a well in Midland, Tx. Sam has the uncanny ability to maneuver himself into a situation from which only Houdini would be able to escape. Rescuers worked around the clock to free Baby Jessica as the nation watched on CNN. Fortunately, we have yet to call in the National Guard, but I'm afraid it is only a matter of time.

One of Sam's favorite spots is behind the armchair in our bedroom. He steps up onto the bottom shelf of the adjacent bookcase and squeezes himself around one arm and behind the chair. His circumnavigation of the chair brings him to the starboard side, whereupon he conveniently wedges himself between the opposite arm and a table. His cries of distress become more panicked the longer he is pinned. We try not to let him get to Defcon 1. The thing is, as soon as we extricate him from the trap, he wriggles from our grasp and immediately proceeds to step on the bottom shelf of the bookcase and retrace his steps only to find himself in the exact same predicament all over again.

Our son is by no means a dummy. He is simply driven--as I imagine most toddlers are--by his insane and insatiable curiosity.

Yesterday, was perhaps Sam's finest Baby Jessica trick. I was in his bathroom when I heard his distressed whimpering. I look over and he has somehow wedged his head underneath the crib. He was stuck. I blanked for a minute, genuinely wondering how I was going to pop his head out, before it dawned on me to just pick the crib up and let him slide free. I just makes me wonder what Elise and I can look forward to in the future!