Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Where'd My Baby Go?

This weekend Allison proved over and over again that she is no longer a baby:

Allison fed Fruit, our pet beta fish, for the first time this weekend. She begs to sit (“Shhhit! Shhhit! Shhhit! Shhhit!”) in the chair by his tank. She recently started to grab for the tank and/or the fish food. She got really upset when Danny took the fish food away from her on Saturday, so he took a pellet out of the container and put it in her hand. He wasn’t sure what she would do with it, but he was prepared to stop her from eating it herself. With her little pincher fingers, she picked up the pellet and dropped it into Fruit’s tank. Danny was amazed. We can’t really remember her watching any of us feed Fruit, but she must have seen us do it. I can’t believe that she is “big enough” to do that. Babies do not feed fish.

Allison started to refuse to let me put on her socks and shoes until she tries to do it herself. Babies don’t attempt to dress themselves.

Emma and Allison have frequently started to get into little tiffs over toys and other possessions. We’ve found that when push comes to shove, Allison can hold her own when things get physical. You can steal candy from a baby. You’ll get a fight out of Allison.

We watched Charlie yesterday. I bought some Easter themed crafts from the craft store to keep the kids busy. I gave Emma and Charlie their stuff first and Allison wasn’t happy about that one bit. She got especially mad when it came time to pass out the glue. I can’t prove it, but I think that she eyeballed Emma and Charlie’s glue to make sure that she didn’t get the shaft. Babies don’t worry about things being “fair.”



After the craft project lost its luster, I told the kids I would take them out to play after we cleaned up. I wasn’t intending on taking Allison outside. Not long after we put Emma down to play, she walks back into the kitchen with her jacket. She knew exactly what Emma and Charlie were about to do and she was not about to miss out on the fun. I taught Emma and Charlie how to play tag and Ally would run after them and squeal with delight at being part of the game. At one point Danny attempted to take her inside. He got no further than the garage when she screamed like fire alarm, “Side! Side!” She’s going to be an outdoors girl. Babies don’t care where they are as long as they are comfortable.

Shelia, a friend of ours, came over for a visit last night. We were all downstairs chatting and playing. Allison came up to me and said, “Eat.” I picked her up and asked her if she was hungry and she nodded her head. Shelia and I were talking and I stopped on the way upstairs to finish the conversation. Sporadically I would hear her say “Eat” but I was ignoring her. Finally, she had reached the end of her patience. She pointed toward the door leading upstairs and yelled, “GO! EAT!” That got our attention and we laughed our way upstairs. Babies cry in increasingly louder screams when they get hungry. Babies don’t point and make demands using the same tone that parents do when children won’t listen.

The cutest thing Ally did to prove that she’s not a baby any more happened in the kitchen. I was cleaning up after making Allison’s dinner and she was done and playing. She leaned back against the kitchen and crossed her arms across her chest (kind of like a rapper with a ‘tude). It was so cute and I imitated her. We all laughed and she kept doing it so that I would imitate her. Babies can play the imitation game, but they don’t run up to you laughing like a hyena and make another game out of stopping you from imitating them.

My Allison is growing in to a little girl and becoming quite the character. Oh, Baby! It’s going to be one wild ride.

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