Tru finally started walking unaided. Well actually he started walking a while back but thats the thing with having 2 kids. Milestones start becoming not that big a deal. With one kid, it’s always “WOW MY KID DISCOVERED HIS OPPOSING THUMBS” or “HE LEARNT HOW TO PICK HIS NOSE” and everything is so fascinating and new because you have all the time in the world to sit down and observe them. 2 kids don’t afford you that luxury and now it’s like “oh great, you’re walking now – more mobility is not good for me.”
Actually we did clap and cheer and fuss over him when he finally stood up and decided to take those few first baby steps. It was so terribly cute he looked like a baby zombie with a large ass lumbering along. I think his center of gravity was off so he had to hold out his pudgy arms like a tightrope walker with each step. I tried to take a picture but in the time that I was fumbling with the camera, he tripped and fell and knocked his head and now I’ve got no picture and he’s got a giant bruise on his head. So much for technology.
With his newfound freedom also came an unexpected development though. Ever since he started walking, he’s been extremely clingy. In parenting terms, it’s called separation anxiety. He’s discovering that we are separate entities and I think it scares the living daylights out of him, like he’s realizing that Mommy is actually not his siamese twin. I couldn’t leave his sight for one second without having him scream and wail. So for a few weeks, I couldn’t go to the toilet without bringing him along. And when I bathed, I had to put him in the baby chair inside the toilet so he could see me the whole time. I only hope its a mental image he will forget when he grows up because there’s just too many issues to deal with there.
That’s the thing with having a toddler. I have a theory called the cuteness/crankiness scale. It’s directly proportionate. With every increase in the level of cuteness, there will be an increase in the amount of crankiness, and vice versa. If the crankiness goes up without the cuteness, parents will start to freak out and the number of 2-year-olds getting tied to a stake and beaten with sticks will spike. It’s just basic parenting. A little incentive to endure the tantrums and hissy fits.
Like yesterday, Tru refused to let me carry his sister. Every time I picked her up, he would throng me, grab my ankles and wail hysterically like he was being sold off to slavery. Of course, Kirsten had no idea what his beef was and she also didn’t care because her hunger was overwhelming, so I had one screaming kid in my arms and another clawing at my ankles. Then all of a sudden his tantrum subsided and he gave me a big bear hug, grabbed my face and kissed me in the ear. See, thanks to the cuteness/crankiness scale, I managed to not whip his ass and we all lived happily ever after.
But seriously, it is a real dilemma. Sometimes I wish he wouldn’t grow up so fast so I can hang on to all the baby moments but then he starts learning to do all the cute stuff like zombie walking and talking non-stop in that little baby voice and I just implode with cuteness.
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