We Always Called Him Spiderman

....because he tried to climb walls as a toddler.  He technically climbed before he crawled.  He climbed our bedposts, the tv...anything really, well before crawling forward.  When trying to climb a flat surface at age 2, he simply gave him self a boost by flying INTO the wall....before sliding down.

So, I suppose rock-climbing should have been a natural progression.  But Stephen and I made the mistake of trying to give him martial arts classes for Christmas.  Those lessons quickly turned into a climbing gym membership.

So he's been climbing all semester.  Stephen says Clyde doesn't believe it, but the boy is a better climber than his Dad.  His siblings joined him a couple of times, which he loved.  He likes to "race" them, but he always stops right before winning and lets them win.  He's just not the competitive type :)

bouldering...

 tying his own knots (he's not technically old enough, so Stephen double checks them as a formality lately)  And like his father, he takes all the safety protocols VERY seriously...

 climbing with occasional company from his biggest fans...

After the semester was over, we enrolled him in a climbing camp.  He LOVED it!!  But since it was a camp, I wasn't there and I have no pictures :(

But he told me about it excitedly every day when I picked him up.  They let them leap off of ladders and boulders while being secured to the ceiling by ropes.  They broke into teams to design protection for an egg dropped from a second story balcony.  Only Clyde's team's egg remained intact!!  There were many other activities, and I think he was sorry when it was over.  But he is really looking forward to picking it back up in the fall!