Playing Baby Defense

I know I have really been neglecting my blogging, but I have good reasons.

First my husband has been working long hours, so that means twice as much diaper duty and running around for mommy.Second, my adorable, calm little baby's has been possessed by an energetic, incredibly curious, fast, walking one year old.

Where did my baby go? I remember she was so small and I could carry her around. She was so quiet and sweet and I could take her everywhere. We would go out to dinner and she would just sit in her chair and peacefully eat her Gerber puffs, one at a time and smile at the people eating around us. Everyone would stop and say "your daughter is so cute and we can't believe how well-behaved she is!" We could stroll around the mall for hours and she would sit in her stroller, just watching the people. Suddenly, she had turned one and has been replaced with a completely different child. Don't get me wrong, she is still as sweet as can be, but I can no longer sit her on the ground and expect to find her in the same spot when I get back from going pee. I am much more likely to find her racing down the hall, trying to break through the baby gate or pulling all of Sissy's clothes out of the bottom drawer and trying to put them over her head.

When we go out to eat, she now needs to taste everything in my plate and most of it ends up on the floor. Going to the mall means shopping with one hand and trying to keep her from climbing out of the stroller with the other. when she isn't climbing out, she is emptying out the contents of her diaper bag until I let her out to walk around, which is an entirely different challenge.

It isn't so much that she is misbehaving, she is just incredibly curious and independent. She doesn't want to be in the stroller because she wants to get out and try to push it around herself. (Which means, watch for your toes fellow shoppers!) She doesn't throw her food on the floor but it ends up there because she insists on feeding herself.

Her new favorite thing to explore is the toilet. She wants to put her hands in the water and splash around (she also does this in the dog bowl). So I have to follow everyone into the bathroom and make sure that they put the lid down.

So basically, I haven't been able to blog because I have been trying to preserve my folded laundry and plumbing, looking for missing shoes (she loves to carry around people's shoes for some reason), trying to arrange everything in the house in a position that is "out of reach" and racing my little angel to whatever she is up to next. Basically, I have been playing baby defense.

Gotta love this "exploratory" phase. :)