"I'll have you know I wandered off from the tour."
In just the past couple of days, Abbie took some huge steps forward in the field taking steps forward. I think that her dominant locomotion changed from crawling to walking Thursday night. She continues to crawl a lot, especially when moving short distances like from book to book or from TV remote to stereo remote, or when speed is necessary such as when chasing a runaway kitty. Still, in most situations she now prefers walking. She enjoys walking so much that she occasionally takes off walking without paying much attention to where she’s going or why she’s doing it, kind of like Jerry Hairston Jr. playing centerfield.
Wandering off isn’t much of a problem at home. Thanks to our cozy living quarters that are smaller than most garages, storages sheds, and some laundry baskets, she can’t wander very far. It’s like we keep her in a hamster cage, only without the wheel for exercise so she has to keep moving in circles. The biggest problem is if she wanders out of our sight, she can get lost in the mountains of junk dotting our home’s landscape. A toddler of her size could easily hide for days between Mount Dirty Clothes and Week-Old Newspaper Peak. We also have to be careful that she doesn’t do something naughty if we leave her alone for a second. In the time it takes to run around the corner to grab something we need, like a pen, or a burp cloth, or yet another toy, she can be across the room with the TV remote in her mouth and drool all over the 4, 8, and #. She’s slow to start walking, but once she gets a full head of steam on her feet she can make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
When we’re away from home, her wandering off is a bigger problem. In a crowded store, the trouble with her wandering away is obvious as she could be harassed by all sorts of unsavory characters, like carnies or Cardinal fans. Fortunately I usually have a cart to strap her into in a store and a bag full of toys to distract her. Our frequent visits to garage sales create a different problem. There, I have no cart, so when she starts squirming in my arms because she wants down I usually have to set her down since there’s no way I’m giving up the chance to find 25-cent tops. The garage sale owners, who usually have their own children, generally love seeing and entertaining her for a couple minutes while I determine if the faded tag says 12M or 2T, so I don’t have to worry much about strangers. Garage sales do tend to be in garages* though, or at least driveways, so when she inevitably falls on the ground, her hands wind up covered in icky automobile leavings that she tries to eat. I also worry about her hurting herself falling on the hard concrete, but she hasn’t done so yet. In fact, when I put my foot in her walking path to prevent her wanderings she usually trips and falls anyway, so I just let her go and hope for the best.
Now that she’s more mobile she wears me out faster. That’s not good because I still have a ton of Important Work to do. Most of the time I have to concentrate on my work while she meanders about the room, looking confused as she searches for something to do. She still moves better than Hairston.
* Duh
Wandering off isn’t much of a problem at home. Thanks to our cozy living quarters that are smaller than most garages, storages sheds, and some laundry baskets, she can’t wander very far. It’s like we keep her in a hamster cage, only without the wheel for exercise so she has to keep moving in circles. The biggest problem is if she wanders out of our sight, she can get lost in the mountains of junk dotting our home’s landscape. A toddler of her size could easily hide for days between Mount Dirty Clothes and Week-Old Newspaper Peak. We also have to be careful that she doesn’t do something naughty if we leave her alone for a second. In the time it takes to run around the corner to grab something we need, like a pen, or a burp cloth, or yet another toy, she can be across the room with the TV remote in her mouth and drool all over the 4, 8, and #. She’s slow to start walking, but once she gets a full head of steam on her feet she can make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
When we’re away from home, her wandering off is a bigger problem. In a crowded store, the trouble with her wandering away is obvious as she could be harassed by all sorts of unsavory characters, like carnies or Cardinal fans. Fortunately I usually have a cart to strap her into in a store and a bag full of toys to distract her. Our frequent visits to garage sales create a different problem. There, I have no cart, so when she starts squirming in my arms because she wants down I usually have to set her down since there’s no way I’m giving up the chance to find 25-cent tops. The garage sale owners, who usually have their own children, generally love seeing and entertaining her for a couple minutes while I determine if the faded tag says 12M or 2T, so I don’t have to worry much about strangers. Garage sales do tend to be in garages* though, or at least driveways, so when she inevitably falls on the ground, her hands wind up covered in icky automobile leavings that she tries to eat. I also worry about her hurting herself falling on the hard concrete, but she hasn’t done so yet. In fact, when I put my foot in her walking path to prevent her wanderings she usually trips and falls anyway, so I just let her go and hope for the best.
Now that she’s more mobile she wears me out faster. That’s not good because I still have a ton of Important Work to do. Most of the time I have to concentrate on my work while she meanders about the room, looking confused as she searches for something to do. She still moves better than Hairston.
* Duh
posted by Matt at
9:37 PM
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