Paradigm Shifts

When we embarked on this parenting thing nearly 14 months ago I didn't really have much of an idea of what to expect. I knew that we would be welcoming a miniature human into our midst, but what does that really mean? I didn't realize just how flexible my mental state would need to become just to keep up with the never-ending change that Clara has brought to our family. Now I do.

Looking back, I realize that those first few months were kind; the changes to her eat/poop/cry/sleep/repeat routine were gradual, and even though sleep deprivation is cruel, at least I knew where I would find her at any given moment. Even when she began to roll over it wasn't like she could get away very quickly. Then over the course of about six months came solid foods, crawling, babbling (loudly), standing, reaching, stair-climbing, and more. The pace picked up but was still reasonable; I mean, I could still reach things more quickly than she could.

And now we arrive at the present day.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

Clara started walking almost exclusively on Christmas day, and it seems like that was the major developmental leap where infancy was left behind and childhood began with this lovely stage known as toddlerhood. Her physical and mental capacity expands each day and I feel like I'm running to keep up. Instead of having two months to adjust to having a baby who can hold her head up I now have two minutes (tops) to adjust to having a child who can now reach into the silverware drawer.

We now have a toddler who is aware of what she wants when she wants it, and tries desperately to communicate those wants even though all she can say is da-da, ma-ma, ra-ra (Clara), that, and no (my personal favorite, of course). The result is often much pointing, grunting, and crying if I don't get it right. Some signs are pretty clear, though; when she's hungry she'll run over to her highchair and try to take the tray off, and in the evenings near bedtime she'll ask to be picked up then points to the stairs as if to say, "Bed. Now." She's also quite adept at the "rag doll" move; if you're holding her and she wants down she'll just go limp and try to drop out of your arms, or if she's walking and you try to guide her in a certain direction she'll just lay down on the ground. This happens in public quite often.

Her climbing skills are improving all the time as well; just a couple of days ago she made it up onto her kid-size table.


I'm sure it'll be only a matter of days before she masters the dining room table as well. Her problem-solving abilities are also becoming more advanced; she now realizes that her little chairs can be pushed around and used to give her a height advantage. I caught her trying to scale the piano today by first climbing into her little chair then onto the piano bench. I think she's also grown about four inches in the past week because she can now get items out of the upper drawers in the kitchen, a feat she was unable to perform just a few days ago. It has necessitated some rearranging in order to keep the knives away from little fingers.

She has been able to open doors for about a month now, so the bathroom on our main floor is locked all the time and she makes multiple raids on the pantry every day. A couple of days ago I found her sitting in the pantry with a box of graham crackers, systematically taking one bite out of each before crushing it to smithereens and moving on to the next.



She's becoming much more independent with food in general; she's getting better with silverware and wants whole pieces of fruit instead of the small bites I would prefer she have.


Her sense of humor is developing and she loves to do anything she can to make us laugh. She has this great goofy grin where she smiles wide, squinches up her eyes, and throws her head back.


She loves to play tickle games and hiding games; one of her new favorites is to be covered up with the pillows from the couch and then just lay there laughing and laughing.



She is also very determined to have things her way and will move mountains to accomplish her aims.


If you ask her to find her nose, eyes, mouth, belly-button, or head, most of the time she'll get it right, although sometimes she'll just reach over and try to pick your nose instead. And if you're really lucky she'll try and strip off your shirt in order to find your belly-button. Yesterday she mastered the moo of a cow, although she now uses it as an all-purpose response to a request for any animal sound. Did you know that ducks moo? According to Clara they do.

Are you tired yet? I am, and that's only a fraction of what she has begun to do during the last few weeks. I'm guessing the pace will not become any less frenetic over the next several months and years, hence the daily paradigm shift this mom is experiencing. But you know what? I'm having more fun that I ever expected to. Even though there are days where she wakes up before 6am, takes a one-hour nap, and nearly drives me to try and sell her on Craigslist, I still can't get over how great it is to watch my little baby become my little girl.

I also never expected to have my heart quite so consumed by such a small person, but she's done it. Maybe that's why I never quite make it over to the computer to post that ad.