Leaping forward by sliding back

I think everyone knows babies go through growth spurts - where clothes seem to get too tight or too short overnight. I suppose it makes sense that they would go through a similar process mentally, but I hadn't really noticed that with Chase. Every new skill was preceded by weeks - sometimes months - of trying and practicing.

Until recently...

One day last week, I was sitting on the couch with Chase and he started scooting backward toward the edge. "Careful, baby, " I said, as I have said many times before. "If you get too close to the edge you might fall." Usually, this was enough to stop him, at least breifly. Not this time! This time he kept going, bracing his hands on the cushion and letting his legs, then his torso, slide down the front of the couch until he was on his feet. What??!! "I didn't know you could do that!" I said, as he grinned up at me.

A couple of days later, he tried the same thing off the bed, which is much taller. I nearly stopped him, then decided to just "spot" him as he slid (just enough to keep him from banging his head on the hardwood floor!). My spot wasn't needed, though. He had a tight grip on the comforter and used it like a rope to "repel" down. And although he managed it just fine, landing solidly on his feet, I think the distance to the floor surprised him a bit. He had a shocked look on his face instead of the "I did it!" grin.

What was so surprising to me about this is that I've only shown him a couple of times, and not at all recently, how to back down off of things. Actually, I can only remember doing it once, and it was definitely before Christmas, maybe longer ago than that. So, did he remember that lesson once he'd acquired the physical skills to achieve it? Or did he somehow figure it own of his own accord?

Either way, I'm looking forward to what my baby can show me next.