48 Weeks: I'm Walkin' Yessiree

So, she is off like a rocket.

We went from being able to coax her into walking from one of us to the other to chasing her around in the space of three days. We both thought hey! It’ll be so much FUN when she can walk, we won’t have to carry her everywhere and she’ll tire herself out and she’ll be so cute in those little shoes!

Um, yeah, well, objects in rearview mirror may appear smaller than they are.

It’s kind of fun, holding her hand as she toddles around. And yes, the sandals we bought her are very cute. But trying to get her to walk the same place we are walking is almost impossible, and when we’re walking outside she runs for the street every chance she gets. My friend’s son used to do this, too, and come to think of it every newly-walking toddler I’ve encountered has a magnetic attraction to That Place Where Cars Go. I don’t know why, maybe something about the weight of a child at that age and the Earth’s gravitational field. Whatever the reason, it can be a very exhausting and frustrating business to herd her where we need to go. Today I tried to take her for a walk around the neighborhood, hoping it would tire her out a little and help coax her into an afternoon nap, but we only got four houses down before I got frustrated, picked her up, and trucked on home. It took us twenty minutes to cover 500 ft. of sidewalk, with me yanking her out of people’s yards and swatting her little hands away from plants I couldn’t identify and stopping her from eating grass and waiting around as she stopped to whack on every utility box, light pole, and tree trunk we encountered, then running right back to it when I tried to drag her farther down the street. By the time we got home, I was the one who needed a nap.

The increased mobility has also increased her mess-making ability. I already spent most of my time following her around the house cleaning up the things she destroys, but it’s worse now. Instead of crawling or scooting from one room to the next, all she need do is get up and WALK! Walk to the kitchen and pull things out of cupboards and drawers. Walk to the computer room and unload a box of books waiting to be unpacked. Walk to the living room and unload a basket of clean and freshly-folded laundry. Walk to the bathroom and smash her fingers in the toilet lid, then pound on the lid and scream because something is smashing her fingers. Walk back into the living room and take all her books out of the basket next to the reading chair. Walk into her room and unload the bookshelf, the sock drawer, and rearrange the neat piles of baby clothes I set aside to get rid of. Walk into the bedroom and shut the door then scream because the door is shut and it won’t open.

And all this while I was feeding the cats.