The New, Adventurous Self

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

I am a toddler now and I like to climb and explore. Please watch me more closely.

Love,
Abigail


I feel like Robby and I should have gotten that memo from Abigail because today, we had two MAJOR supervision mistakes! First of all, we went to Babies-R-Us in hunt of a new stroller for Abigail. Yes, true, she already has two - a huge whopper of a stroller that came with her travel system and a light weight stroller now that she is older. But the bigger, better one has a busted handle and is a pain to use, even after the attempted repair with duct tape (Robby found out that it is NOT 4-wheel drive in the snow!), and the other one, kind of like an umbrella stroller, but a little different, has a handle that is too short to drive. Robby absolutely cannot drive it - he looks like an old man hunched over, and it is even uncomfortable for me to drive (push) at 5'4". It makes me wonder who, exactly, the stroller company had in mind when making it - someone who is shorter than me, obviously!! We HATE it, and Robby was fed up with it when we went to the park yesterday. I went online and gave it bad reviews for anyone over 5 feet tall.

Back to the story...while we were looking for a stroller, Abby managed to climb out of her seat in the buggy and tumble out of the shopping cart! She fell flat on the floor and started hollering! Yes, I know it's a shock! Robby and I were both right there, and I even saw it happen, but I felt like one of those movies where you're in slow motion and can't quite get there fast enough because, although I am in slow-mo, she is in fast forward. Shame on us for not buckling her in! Robby scooped her up, I checked her head for lumps/bumps/bruises, then her body/back/legs/arms/everything I could check, and no bumps at all or blood of any kind. THANK GOODNESS! After about 2 minutes of crying, I took her to the rocking chair section and rocked her for about a minute, then she was squiggling out of my arms wanting to get down and play. She was good as new! Happy, talking, running. Yes, I kept a close watch on her behavior after that (and ours, as parents!).

We were so upset and thankful that she was okay! Naturally, we let her pick out a "sorry Mommy and Daddy didn't buckle you in" present. She got some Mega Blocks! She's a toddler now, and a climber - lesson learned!

Oh wait. As if that wasn't enough, there's another boo-boo in store for us. We decided to go to the park near our house to try out the new stroller (it's fantastic, by the way!). Everything was going well: we walked around the trails first - over a mile! - then came back to the toddler playground where Abby likes to play. We let her out, and since I was holding Chance's leash, Robby went to play with her on the equipment. (Plus, I had to take pictures.) She went up the stairs by herself (Daddy is good at letting her explore on her own) and went down the slide --- ALL BY HERSELF! Yay! I was nervous, but Robby let her sit down on the slide by herself, then push herself down and I was at the bottom to help her off. It was great to see her so autonomous!

She did this cycle about 4 or 5 times...and that's when it happened. At one point, Robby scooted over to let another kid climb up the stairs, and as soon as he did that, BAM! Abigail fell off the playground! OH MY GOODNESS, I am not kidding. Two falls in one day! It was about 3 feet, but luckily, she landed on soft, squishy wood chips. This time, we didn't feel as guilty about because Robby was right there and it was something we have to do - let her do things on her own, even if that comes with a risk of falling or getting mildly hurt. She cried for a bit, but it was more like an "ow!" than anything, and she wanted down immediately and ran back to climb up the slide. Whew. Growing up is hard work. I'm just glad she is tough as nails!

Going into Babies - R - Us eating a sucker!

Abigail's new ride! She loves it and thinks it is very comfortable. It has full recline.

At the playground - going up the stairs with no help from parents!

Moments before Fall #2. Robby moved over to let that kid pass and right after that is when Abigail fell. The kid in no way pushed her - he was careful. She just turned around and fell straight down under the bottom rail.

After falling, she wanted straight back up to play again! Here she is getting ready to go down the slide.