Lego Land

I baby-sat my 23 mos old nephew yesterday afternoon. Thank god for giant legos and "The Good Night Show" on cable TV. Our house is not exactly child-safe. Not at all. So I stacked chairs against the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, put a coffee table in front of the computer desk, spread a large blanket on the floor in the TV room downstairs, dumped his bag of legos on to the floor, tossed in a couple large pillows (is *that* why they are called throw pillows?), and clicked on the TV. Little boy B. was able to occupy himself for about an hour off and on. Then the wandering and climbing commenced. (My sister had warned me: "He's a climber, so you really have to watch him."). After the third time B. tried to climb a chair onto the bookcases, I decided to put one chair out in the middle of the floor, amid the legos. He gleefully climbed up & off & under & over & around & around this old wooden chair for about an hour, while I watched "The Good Night Show." It was like he was in a zone. A chair climbing zone. He even fell off the chair a couple times, but it did not even faze him. After about an hour, when the chair got boring, we climbed the basement stairs and stood at the back screen door and watched the windstorm. He jiggled the door latch over and over trying to open the door (it was locked). Then he pooped his diaper and his mom came home just in time to change it (thank you, Jesus!). He is such a sweet and adorable kid. But I have no idea how a "real" parent can do this day in and day out.