More Kathleen

I was thinking about it yesterday: because we work and Kathleen goes to daycare, we’re going to miss a lot of her firsts. Like the crawling – we missed that. And walking – we’re probably going to miss that. But do you know what? We don’t mind. It really doesn’t bother us, which surprises me. No matter if we see the grand event first or second, it’s still exciting, huge, and momentous to us. We don’t need to be the first as long as we have the opportunity to be.

Besides, we get to experience the build up to the firsts. We were able to watch her progress from tummy time, to kneeling, and the struggling to bring her knees underneath her body which led up to the crawling. And we’ve been watching her crawl like a master ever since. It’s the same with watching her learn to stand and walk now. And who knows, maybe the first step will be ours. Whether it is or isn’t, our first time witnessing her walk will be something we always treasure.

Speaking of standing and walking, she’s making huge strides (pun intended). She’s able to stand sometimes without first launching herself up from a pillow, and she stands steadily for several measureable seconds once she’s there. She looks so pleased with herself. You should see the grin on her face: priceless.

She’s walking across the room with support. She started that this weekend (you see, that “first” is ours). She first shot across the room while pushing an empty Huggies box across the floor. That was Saturday, I think. Yesterday, she began using the scooter/walker. She can’t get enough of it. She’ll pull herself up and start rolling it across the carpet into the kitchen, one pudgy leg stepping out in front the other. I love the excited mmmmmmmmm that escapes her as practices this new skill. She’s so tickled and proud of herself . . . as she should be. I’ll need to get a video of her laughing her way across the floor tonight.

Do you know what every child’s favorite toy is? The box it came in. I caught Kathleen trying to climb into that empty Huggies box (that’s probably what she was trying to do when it suddenly took off with her across the room). It’s a little too high to quite make it on her own. I obliged, of course, and pushed her across the carpet, car style. She – loved – it. We raced up and down the hall, in and out of every room, doing doughnuts, daredevil swerves, and unnerving curves while Katie “Wild Minnie” N____ giggled and shrieked her whole-hearted approval. She may not be able to speak yet, but I could read Do it again, mom! quite plainly in every ear-splitting screech. So I did. (Who says older parents don’t have energy?)