“Ayub is in the top of one of the pine trees in our backyard I’m racing home.”
That was the text I got from Andrew while I was on my way home from work. I actually arrived first. I had to stop and let he fire chief pass me on the way into our subdivision. When I arrived at our house, there were lights flashing, fire trucks, police cars, the works. And still, Ayub was in the tree. They had a ladder against the tree, which only went about half-way up to where he was. They shooed us all inside. I am not an idiot…I knew they didn’t want us out there when he fell. They brought another ladder. This time a 36 footer. Still not tall enough. At the same time, they were pulling huge fire truck with the ladder into our driveway so they could extend the ladder over our privacy fence. The fireman on the ladder finally talked him through climbing down. He made it to the top of the ladder with some coaching, then scampered right down.
Why? As a parent with significant emotional needs, I find myself asking that question all the time. Is this just normal behavior? Or is this related to adoption? And the answer I usually land on is adoption.
That day, Eleanor had a tantrum which disrupted the morning routine, so Ayub didn’t get to finish his homework. It was a half-day at school. So there were two major changes in routine. And he just. Can’t. Handle. That. So when the babysitter insisted that he do his homework, his fight or flight kicked in. And this time his flight was up a tree.
We talked to Ayub about how he could have gotten hurt. He doesn’t believe it because he’s a very good climber. He even told the fireman so. We talked about how he scared the babysitter, and his siblings, and us. He doesn’t think we should have been worried. I am thinking that instead of convincing him not to do this again, we should put those aluminum wraps around our trees that you use when you don’t want squirrels to climb up. But, there will always be other trees, either literal or figurative.
Enjoy this video of the situation, filmed by Sam, with additional commentary by Lucy. Yes, I am able to laugh about it now, and this is pretty funny footage.
2 + 2 