Toddling

While Jonathan has been focusing on swimming lessons this summer and is doing really well at the local swim center, Abby's been learning to walk and talk. She's even put a little effort into throwing tantrums like a real toddler.

By now she's taking an 4-8 steps at a time, but she still often prefers to hit the ground and crawl to the other side before standing again rather than make the effortful walk. Abby is still quite graceful, and while she may stop and plop down, she rarely actually tumbles over, falls, or bumps her head. It's a totally different experience than the last time we had a toddler in the home! Just the past two days she's even learned to turn around and back down feet-first from the fire place when I catch her sitting up there and instruct, "no, no, Abby, not safe, get down."

My iPhone has proven to be a wonderful Mommy tool for catching all kinds of precious moments, but despite even the immediate availability of the phone, I can't seem to catch her walking! These are some of my attempts, taken about 8 days ago. [This entry has been sponsored by iPhone. All photos and videos were iPhone captured]

This little girl has also taken to climbing. If I step around a corner for a minute, I'll return to find her standing on any stool or chair available, clinging to the best support in reach. She hasn't fallen yet, but I'm trying to keep doors closed to prevent turning around and seeing this, as cute as she is when she's so proud of herself.

I went to answer a phone while wrapping Jonathan's birthday presents and returned to find my daughter was ready to help me finish wrapping. Jonathan didn't mind the wrinkles, so we just went with it :)

Abby is also doing all kinds of "talking." Well, she has quite a few words for a 10 month old. She enthusiastically exclaims "Mama!" or "Dada!" when we walk in the room, or even when she hears Mommy or Daddy on the phone. Her first additional word, a few weeks ago, was "Uh oh," initially pronounced as a very effortful gutteral "uh.... uh" that even Jonathan pointed out sounded a bit like she was working on a dirty diaper. But she now has a bright little "uh oh!" to exclaim when something falls down. Or, more often, just before she throws something to the floor. Her next word has been ball, pronounced "baaaaah!"

Abby told her first story today. It went like this, "Aaaaah! Baaaah! Ooooooooh, baaah! ... Uh oh baah! ... Mama!"

Translated to grown up speak it was, "Oooh! Yeah! I see a ball! Here I come, little ball. [Abby hits ball which falls off the chair]. Ut oh, oops, looks like the ball fell down. Hey Mommy, get that ball, would you?"

While I've been surprised at how quickly she's picking up words and how much more she seems to understand each day, her new found expectations for communication have brought about what seems a surprisingly early discovery of the frustration of toddlerhood. This week we had some full blown roll-around-on-the-floor-till-I've-exhausted-myself tantrums. One of them started like this, at which point an attempted rescue from the high chair brought only more frustration, and she was deposited on a carpet until she'd reached the end of her rope and was ready to calm down and be cuddled again. I'm hopeful that if we hit the tantrums early, maybe the stage will burn out early, too?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone