This is my fourth child.
He is three.
(Yes, he is in pajamas. Did I mention he’s the fourth?)

Before the day I took this photo, he didn’t know how to climb trees.
He was too short to reach the bottom-most branch.
I rested confident he wouldn’t turn up in a tree for a few more years.

He has two living older siblings.
And creative problem-solving neighbor kids.
They know how to climb trees.

They also know how to open gates.

Now my toddler, possessor of a complete vacuum of self-preservation, knows how to climb trees.

What do I, mother of four, do?
Take pictures.
Then rescue the boy.

If he had been my first, this series of photos would not exist.

P.S. Dear Children’s Hospital, get ready.
We will be there for stitches and/or casts very soon.

This heart-stopping moment brought to you by a veteran mom’s nerves of steel
and Tuesdays Unwrapped.