During the warm weather the doors to our house are open and the kids wander in and out freely.
We fenced and kid-proofed the property before moving-in knowing we wanted to allow kid roaming freedom. Nearly 2 years have passed without a single incident ... until now
Our primary garden is located along the side of the house, behind a gate.
Due to the bark-chip ground cover and his constantly bare feet, Huck has shown no real interest in visiting the side-garden without a specific reason (pea picking or helping me weed).
As such, we've become a bit lax in latching the side-garden gate.
A few nights ago, as we were relaxing in the house my mommy ears perked up at the 'silence' from the back yard where I knew Huck had headed a few minutes ago. As silence is the key trigger for 'get up and look' parental behavior, Stark headed out front and I took the back yard (there is a side route between the two yards so it was possible he'd moved out front).
Unlike his sister who would helpfully answer when her name was called, Huck is silent, which makes searching a bit more complicated. He wasn't in any of his usual play spots and I was beginning to become concerned when I spotted movement in our carport. An investigation revealed Huck in the carport sitting on an old work bench happily eating cat food out of our feral feeding station. He was accompanied by his partner in crime, our friendly backyard cat who, as most likely lead Huck on this adventure (Huck likes to follow cats ... probably as they lead him to cat food)
I should mention that the gate to our carport is secured with a lock to deter our super friendly (as in drug hazed breaking and entering) neighbors.
One rescued from the cat bench I asked Huck how he'd gotten back there. He happily showed me the exact path of travel ... in an effort to again reach the cat food (he really likes cat food.)
Escape Route #1
Through the garden gate
Across the bark chip ground cover
Through the wild viney weeds
Up into the rotten overgrown neglected compost bin
Climb up the back of the bin
Climb onto the conveniently placed stack of firewood
Climb onto the workbench ( good 3 feet off the clutter pavement)
Climb over the cat food station
Sit down next to the cat food station and proceed to snack
I didn't let him recreate the entire thing but I did let him get far enough to make absolutely sure we knew what needed to be re-baby-proofed.
We appear to have a very strong, coordinated, independent, 20 month old climber on our hands.
Huck, you may be cautious, but you are daring.
