My Girlie is quite curious. And adventurous. And fearless. A “fun” combination for an already anxious mother. She was walking one week and climbing the next. I’ll share with you a few of our adventures.
At her first birthday party, she impressed our families by climbing the 5-foot rock wall on our playscape. All the grandmothers and aunts were ready to run to catch her and yelling for me to watch her while all the uncles were saying how cool Girlie was and debating which side of the family she gets it from.
She loved the stairs–even after falling down six of them followed by a few hours of “special mommy time” at the ER. After we got the gate up, she would stand there and wait for us to let her try again. “Don’t carry me!” She would say. Miss Independent, indeed.
The stove. Another of her favorites. One day I went upstairs to get dressed and came back downstairs to find her inside the oven. Yes. Inside the oven. Thank goodness it was a cereal day for breakfast. Another day I left some pizza on top of the stove and she stood on top of the broiler drawer to get another piece. It was good pizza.
By the end of the toddler summer, she was climbing to the top of the dome of monkey bars. My mom just watched her with her jaw dropped. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like her.” Those first six months after she started walking were pretty wild. She never got seriously hurt, but not for lack of trying.
The Club
Some of my work friends had a club. The second daughter club. It seems that when you have a son first and a daughter second, the girl has a tendency to be fearless in one way or another. They feel the drive to keep up with their older brothers and don’t want to be told that they are too little to try something. Some of the girls were dramatic, others were talkers. Some had an artistic flair in their adventures. Mine was the climber. My little monkey girl.
My poor boy. That summer was really hard on me, but I think it was even harder on him. I keep the kids home with me during the summer– one of the nice parts of being a teacher. Sweet boy was away from his friends, and old enough to realize it. Meanwhile, mommy could not take her eyes off of his little sister. You never knew when simply checking Facebook or the Amazon Deal of the Day could lead to a trip to the ER. Sweet boy was not getting the attention he needed, and he was not very happy that summer. His sad little face broke my heart. And some days, his frustrated antics broke my patience.
Like everything else, it was a phase that passed, although Girlie is still curious, adventurous and fearless. I think that was the biggest lesson of that summer. Each phase will pass. It may seem incredibly intense at the moment, but it will pass and a new phase will begin.