RM learned to walk a few months ago (sometime around her first birthday, although at that time she was still pushing around chairs as if they were walkers) and she quickly went from walking to running. At first, I thought, "Yay! She's walking!!" Like all doting mothers, we got out the video camera and taped her stumbling around for her first steps. She'd get up, take a step, and fall to the ground looking very pleased with herself. Slowly, as the days went by, she got a little bit better with walking and seemed to move a bit faster. Now, she moves pretty well and I find myself really, really wishing for the days when she wasn't mobile and I could go to the bathroom and not have an extra person walk in on me while I'm on the pot going, "Hiiiii". Gone are the days of happily sitting at a restaurant with her in her high chair happily playing with a toy. Gone are the days of going to a store and putting her in the seat part of the carriage to have her happily sit while we did grocery shopping. Instead, I am now dealing with the days of her figuring out new and improved ways of escaping from the various security restraints installed on shopping carts, high chairs, booster seats, and whatever contraption I can come up with to keep her strapped in and sitting still long enough for me to do, oh I don't know, ANYTHING!....Ok, I admit it. I'm bitching quite a bit. While she is definitely moving much more quickly and more often than she did before and it's making me realize how completely out of shape I am and how I probably should have participated a little more completely in the running class I had taken, there are some bright sides to this phase of her life.
Point 1: If she continues to stumble and spontaneously loose her balance, fall over, and laugh about it as she does now, she'll be very well suited for college life. Let's face it, my daughter walks around like she's had a few too many dates with Jose Cuervo and his friend, JD, except she has the sunny disposition of someone who's only met a nice Chardonnay or Pinot (and by sunny disposition, I'm talking about the joy that comes in the middle of enjoying Pinot's company. Not the agony that follows the morning after. You know what I'm talking about even if you're a little ashamed to admit it) not the belligerent, angry slurring that comes from dancing with Margaritas (although RM does like to dance on tables...hmm). Back to my original point. She walks like a drunk, talks like a drunk (mostly because I can't understand 90% of the babble that comes from her), and has the mood swings of a drunk, but is a much cheaper date. I usually watch her falling about the living room and reminisce about my own college years and know my daughter is destined to walk (or stumble) in my footsteps. Hello, Apple. I'm your tree.
Point 2: Her ability to ambulate freely, has shown us that she is relatively clever and has a fabulous sense of humor. I enter into evidence Exhibit A - while at the dentist's office, she wanted to walk into the exam rooms to see what was going on. I strategically placed myself at the entrance of the hallway which would prevent her from doing just that. She looked around the room, ran to the toy area, chucked a toy over to my seat and, when I went to retrieve that toy, she made a dash for the hallway while laughing like, well, laughing like a drunk school girl (I seem to be a bit preoccupied with the drink today...hm...time for happy hour? Oh wait. She doesn't have a fake ID yet. Damn.). Exhibit B - while sitting at home on the couch one evening, Nicole placed a glass of water on the end table. RM crawled up on the couch and was playing for a bit, spotted the cup, picked it up, ran like a ninja down the length of the couch, looked at Nicole and poured the cup right down Nicole's shirt. Again, while laughing. Now, there are a couple of things with that story that throw me for a loop. First, she was able to carry the cup down the couch without spilling it and managed to pour it down Nicole's shirt in a very controlled way. Secondly, the girl can't walk a straight line on a solid surface, but put her on couch cushions with a glass of water and suddenly she has the balance and agility of a ninja on a tightrope?!?!? Are you kidding me?!?!
Point 3: It has helped us realize, quite quickly, that RM is going to be a daredevil because her new found gadget legs not only let her run, but they also help her climb....up....everything. She actually managed to walk up a 6 foot tall slide the other day. Which again I find perplexing that she can't walk on solid ground, but can manage to run up a slide?!?! I am pretty sure this is all evidence to suggest to me that she is the 5th member of the Fantastic Four and she has some crazy anti-gravity powers or something. Maybe if she has some powers that help her defy gravity, she can share some with dear old mom to help with the fact that most of my body parts from the waist up are not really located from the waist up anymore. That "waist line" that used to be a divider like the equator, has become a real grey area where things are able to pass freely without a passport.
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