We are deep in the ones at Fleckhaus. That is Willa is one and half with a vengeance. The Ones challenge me more than any other age.
Willa started walking at 8 months and climbing ladders at 15 months. She can spring to the top of the dining room table in the time it takes me to empty the dustpan in the trash. She can get her baby doll stroller stuck on the stairs in a compromised position in the time it takes me to chop an onion. I place the toothpaste higher on a shelf and she finds it anyway. The time comes to leave the house and her shoes are no where to be found. Shoes, after toothpaste (pa paste) are her favorite object. We spend most of the day putting them on and taking them off.
Willa is also a hider. What's that quiet sound in the house? Oh, it's Willa hiding with an object she shouldn't have, say Lip Gloss she smuggled from Sylvia's room. What's she doing with it? Oh, eating it. When I do find her in the closet, behind the sink or stuck behind the bed she gives me a devilish grin.
"Stuck" by the way is one of her top five most frequently used words. Hopefully these moments aren't portending a life of hiding from the law and getting "Stuck" in jail.
Why does this age challenge me so? I have a naturally short attention span and I like a fair amount of peace and quiet. I simply do not have the paranoid, vigilient nature needed to follow a one year old around all day. If my children survive being one with me they can survive anything. Likewise, if I can finish the year with all my marbles it will be a very good game even if poorly played. If I can accomplish a little bit in the next year, imagine what I can accomplish once Willa passes into the twos.
Also, after a day of intermittent crying my ears start to tune it out. My ears can only absorb so much crying. Again the crying results from Willa getting "stuck" with some object and she can't find her way out or through with it. Willa can wail. She has the mighty Fleck voice, one that can pierce through a raucous gathering of near deaf relations, such is the case with my family.
A friend of mine with a three month old baby just posted on facebook, "When will I get my momentum back." I replied, "I'm hoping in three years when Willa starts kindergarten."
The dishes are still undone, the floor needs to be vacuumed, this is my first blog post in months, and my career is on cruise control. On the other hand, she says "hello and Bye bye with the sweetest voice. She loves to put things away and help with the chores. Willa can grin the drooliest, goofiest, babyest grin that was ever grinned. Everynight after I lay her down in her crib, I say how thankful I am to share my life with this vibrant little soul. Thanks dear friends for joining me in some Mom angst.
