Sophia isn’t walking yet. I’m not as concerned about her not walking as I am about her not talking though, because I know she can walk. She’s an extremely cautious baby. She is incredibly steady when standing and can stand without pulling up on something. She can even go from standing to squatting or lower herself to her seat without crashing to the floor. She has full control. She just needs to take that next step. Two days before her birthday I swear I saw her take one step when she was busy moving two Mega Bloks from one chair in the computer room to another just a step away. So she’s not-a-toddler yet. She’s a cruiser.
The first game invented by our cruising baby was to butt scoot between my feet while I’m trying to cook or do dishes. She first started doing this about three or four weeks ago and when I told Kurt about it he watched for her to start her game and then he followed her! They both went right between my feet as I’m trying to cook with knives and hot cast iron pans. As Kurt pushed through he said, “wow, that’s a tight fit.” Funny, he’s never complained about that in the past.
Kurt has mimicked the baby before the scoot between mommies feet game. If baby cruiser realizes that I’m in the kitchen without her she’ll butt scoot on over and right behind her is the louder thudding sound of her THIRTY-SIX year old father BUTT SCOOTING. Just imagine it. I six foot four inch, thirty-six year old man, butt scooting behind his one year old daughter. She thinks it’s funny. I’m a little creeped out by it mostly because after he sees my look of disdain he throws his arms out and shouts (he actually uses his normal voice, but it’s a shout), “Have sex with me!” in a geeky voice, that resembles a loud version of Pat from SNL.
Baby cruiser loves to be chased. I think this started with Kurt stomping around behind her when she was headed for drawers we wanted her to stay out of. Now anytime she’s headed for something she knows we don’t want her around she giggles as she butt scoots towards it. She has also taken to rolling over and scooting away during diaper changes, right after I take her diaper off. She’s getting QUICK! And saying, “I’m gonna get you” or stomping behind her makes her giggle so hard she almost can’t move. It’s HILARIOUS!
After learning all the things that need to move out of the bathroom before taking a shower with baby cruiser in the room she began a new version of “mommy fetch this”. Usually “mommy fetch this” is played while baby cruiser is restrained to a chair and she pretends that she has no idea if gravity really works *every time*. This version of “mommy fetch this” works when baby drops something in the tub and mommy quickly tosses it back out far enough to give herself a second to rinse a toe but not so far that baby cruiser decides she doesn’t want to go after it. The first time baby cruiser played this game was with a remote control I bought for her in hopes that she would leave the real ones alone. Stop laughing! Yes, I know, stupid new mom.
She tossed the remote into the tub a few times during my shower, and after that one of the controls that plays a song sounded like a dying mariachi band. Yes, the whole band. We had to take the batteries out and let it dry up. It’s mostly back to normal now. Since then I’ve had to save several stuffed animals and an opened package of panty liners that she found on top of the toilet tank. Damn her for being tall!
