Letting Grow

Recently my baby, Anna celebrated her first birthday. It was a really bittersweet day for me because I remembered that she would not be little much longer. I was going to miss my baby, that I got to hold and feed and all those wonderful things. At the same time, I love watching her grow and seeing her personality emerge. She is such an exuberant child with a lust for life. She is such a joy to be around. With Lea to take care of as well, and in the more challenging terrible-twos stage demanding almost constant attention, Anna has seemed to learn a few things that I was not aware of. To those of you without kids this may not seem a big deal, but other parents (and especially Moms out there) will certainly understand it’s significance.

With Lea I had a huge amount of time to devote to her. She was my center of attention for the entire day, and when her father came home, she was his centre as well. I spent so much time showing, and teaching her how to do things because I had the time and I felt that it was my role. One of the skills we worked on together was stacking. I used her Fisher Price stacking toy and would put the ring in her hand, and slowly guide her hand to the post showing her how to let go at just the right moment. It took some time but eventually she figured it out.

So, one evening after I had put Lea to bed (Anna generally stays up a little later, but she sleeps more during the day), Anna and I were enjoying some quiet time together and I thought, what better time to show her the rings. I pulled them out, took the colored rings off and set them around her on the floor. I gave her the correct rings and was not prepared for her to take the ring and slide it on like it was no big deal. When did she learn how to do that? Is this what it’s going to be like for her? Learning from watching her sister and then waiting patiently to show me what she can do? I hugged her a little tighter that night because I knew my baby was growing up, that pretty soon she’d be a toddler, fighting for her own place and discovering who she is.

The Cheese face starts early!

"Where's that red one that goes on top?" - OK, maybe not :)

"Now what!"

Then! Then! To top it all off, in a matter of days she has learned how to do this:

Holy cow! We were shocked. We’ve been spending some with her and practicing walking between us but it seems as though overnight she has figured out how to walk! On her own, for great distances! (well, across the room, to us it seems like miles!) My gut feeling was that she was being stubborn and was toying with us so I decided to just give her space and let her decide to do it on her own. That was a few days ago. Now, now she can do this????

My baby girl is growing up L