The pitter patter of little feet...

It is amazing how much can happen for a 19 month old in two weeks. The last couple of weeks Mabel has gone from her wobbly step-step to her full fledged walking without holding on to anything from one end of the house to another. She still keeps her little hands up by her shoulders to steady herself, but now she can carry her baby doll or any toy and walk! Last week I was sweeping the floor and asked her to follow me, thinking that she would hold on to the wall and she just walked right behind me laughing as I pretended to run from her.

Well, also her new passion now besides walking is sweeping the floor - I guess I make it look like so much fun. Yes, I think the cleaning gene was passed down to Mabel - poor thing. She stands there with my broom and "sweeps" the kitchen, hall, even our back deck! She will see my broom and plead "broooommm! Mama broooommmm" She was so obsessed with sweeping the floors that my mother who watches her during the day made her a paper fan because it was so hot. She showed Mabel how to fan herself and when she gave it to her and said "fan", Mabel looked at it shook her head and said "No! Broom!" And from what my mother said she swept the whole house with that fan over the course of the day! So of course I got her a little broom and now we have "Mama's Broom" and "Mabel's Broom". Perfect.

So yes, Mabel is more mobile than ever and you know I love it. I love watching her walk around and stand on her own. I also love her running narrative of "own", "up", "down", "step". She's also talking up a storm. Not only does it seem like she will say at least ten new words a day, she's also putting words together at an amazing rate. She also has taken to making her toys "talk". The other day when we were trying to get Mabel to settle down for bed, which was a strange night because of some big passing thunderstorms, Mabel and I were cuddling on the couch. I often take her stuffed animals and hold them up and talk in a high pitched voice and say "Hi Mabel" or things like that. Well, Mabel picked up her stuffed cat and held her up and said "Hi Mabel" in a high pitched voice. I acted surprised and said "Mabel she can talk!". Mabel was laughing and then proceeded to make her stuffed cat say "Hi Papa, Hi Mama" and the more surprised I acted the more she pretended it was her cat talking. I thought this was pretty funny and in my humble opinion advanced for a 19 month old to have pretend play like that. She's so funny. That's her new think, she even makes our cats say "Hi Mabel"!

Well, I think it is safe to say we've had a great summer so far. This past weekend we took Mabel for a walk on one of the local Islands. To walk the whole island is about a mile, she walked about a third of it on her own. She kept pointing at the water and saying "big tubby!" and asking to go swim. She loves the water! Zack and I bought a little pull mouse toy for her first birthday and now that is walking she finally can use it, but keeps tripping up because she tries to watch it ask she walks so Zack was obsessed with getting her a corn popper toy - you know that fisher price thing that you push in front of you and the balls pop? So I checked (because of my hate for plastic) and healtytoys.org rate it as safe so we ventured out to *gasp* Toys'R'us and bought ourselves one. Mabel walked around the store "pop" "pop" she would announce as the balls popped. She can almost run with that thing!

So yes, I'm a happy Momma right now. Zack's a happy Papa and Mabel is a happy walking talking toddler. It is so good to see her moving like she wanted, you can see the joy in her face when she realizes what she's doing. She's come a long way. We are taking a two week break from physical therapy. The doctor is on vacation, but it worked out to be perfect timing since she wanted Mabel to walk for a couple of weeks with no therapy (you know once she got the hang of walking) to see how she does. Then we go back to make sure everything looks good, no limping or favoring the right side.

What a relief to see my little girl upright!

A walk on the beach...

Mabel walked a lot today! We visited my mother at her home for a change, Mabel probably thinks she lives in the car since she watches Mabel at our house and Mabel has only been out to her place a few times. At my mom's Mabel walked around unassisted more than I've ever seen. Maybe she was too interested in the new surrounds to notice that she wasn't holding our hands - or maybe it was the yellow ball my mom took out of the closet for her. She would throw the ball then walk over and pick it up and throw it again! She did great! Then after that we took Mabel to the beach to walk in the sand. Mabel walked, and ran with papa, and even put her feet in the water - well a wave touched her feet! She loved it! Originally we planned on making a morning of the beach, but the forecast said rain so we thought we'd just visit for a walk - good thing because about a half an hour after these pictures it poured!

Then off to the store after her nap and Mabel walked around Target! She held onto our hands and walked up and down the isles with us. I love seeing the smiles on people's faces as they passed us. They didn't even seem to mind that we were slowing traffic down!

I just can't explain the feeling I get when I hold Mabel's hand and she walks next to me with those tiny steps. Then to add the feeling I get when she's holding on to both mine and Zack's hand walking in between us, smiling the whole time - our little family!

Well, those little legs must have been tired by the end of the day because Miss Mabel was fussy and tired! We had a great day though - more practice tomorrow!

Oh No....

My Mabel always makes me laugh. Mabel loves to walk to me and Zack and yell "Oh Noooo!" as she threatens to tickle us. She gets so excited that she falls over laughing.

Walking is getting better, we had our physical therapy session yesterday and she made out very well. She walked almost across the room. I think she is still so unsure of herself and you know as I look at other babies feet, Mabel's feet are quite small in comparison for her age. She still wears a size 3 in some shoes! I see smaller babies and they have little stocky legs and they look so sturdy. Mabel has such long slender legs and tiny feet, no wonder she doesn't feel steady on her feet! Well, anyway, she is getting better. She's toddles around, but still prefers to crawl most of the time. I don't mind that at all, she's moving at her own pace and she will eventually prefer to walk, no rush. My mom said she won't walk at all during the day for her. If mom asks her "Mabel can you walk to the ottoman?" Mabel will nod yes, but then crawl and laugh. I guess my mom needs to be more specific!

So our physical therapist is very happy with Mabel's progress. Mabel still isn't rotating her hips naturally, she kind of swings her legs, so the doctor did a lot of stretches to try and loosen that up. It is such a process, I'm so reminding how much her surgery and casting has changed her body and her realization of what you body can do. The time she was in that cast and brace was such a formative time and she has to learn that she's able to do things, but she's very smart. The physical therapist keeps reminding me how smart she is! It makes me feel good to hear that she thinks Mabel is so wonderful - she also paid me a complement that meant a lot too, she said I have great parenting skills. She said that nine times out of ten she only hears parents tell their kids what they are doing wrong, but I'm always encouraging Mabel for what she does right. That made me feel good. Oh, and what made me feel equally good is that when my mom took this picture of Mabel, she told Mabel to smile because this picture is for Mummy...look at that face!

Hi Papa...

Zack called on his way home from work to say he'd be home in about 15 minutes. As usual I asked Mabel if she'd like to talk to Papa on the phone, typically that is less of a conversation and more of a struggle with Mabel pressing buttons, but today was different. I held the phone up to Mabel's ear and told her to say hi to Papa. She said "Hi Papa!" I could hear Zack talk to her so excited to actually hear her voice over the phone clearly talking. Then I told her to say love you. She said, "uve ooo" - well close enough for me and Zack! Then I told to see you at home and she said "Elmo". Well OK that was a tough one to repeat. Then I told her to say bye, she said "Bye Bye" and waved at the phone. Probably the highlight of Zack's month! A real conversation with Mabel. She's the best!

Lady of Leisure...

Holiday Weekend! I love the weekend, being with Zack and Mabel is the best - no matter what we do. Now, I didn't get a longer weekend for the holiday, it was my typical weekend, but it was still perfect.

The last week I've been working some extra hours at work, I'm still part time, but I'm working an extra hour a day...it is hard. It is only an hour, yes, but that hour I'm so aware I was spending with Mabel and now I'm not. It also throws off Mabel's night time by about an hour. Dinner is later, tubby is later and bed - yes that is later too. It is crazy how one little hour could change life so much!

So enough of my whining, I'm still a lucky Mummy that is able to work less than full time, but I just miss my baby! So that is exactly why I love the weekends. This weekend was no exception. We visited another beach and Mabel had a blast again. She played in the sand this time, I think the water was a bit too cold for her. There was a baby right next to us that was Mabel's age! That baby must have been 10 pounds bigger, sometimes I forget how much of a peanut Mabel is (she looks big to me!). The other baby was walking in and out of the water, Mabel wouldn't have any of that, but we did have a blast.

I feel such a sense of true relief now that Mabel can walk. I can't explain it, even though she isn't free walking all the time like babies her age are, I still feel so good knowing she can. Also every time we are having fun like this all I can realize is that we truly were that her surgery and her casting was in the winter. I remember people saying that to us when we started the process and it made me mad at the time thinking that it didn't matter what time of year it was, that our baby had to go through it at all was horrible, but it is so true that we did luck out there. Mabel didn't have to deal with the heat and we didn't have to miss out on this fun. It also gave Mabel the healing time she needed to really enjoy days like this. So much to be thankful for...even dumb luck timing.

On an amazing note, Sunday Mabel did the coolest thing. We were playing in the livingroom and sometimes I let Mabel endulge in watching Sesame Street videos on YouTube on our Ipod. Well, we watched Elmo use the potty, she thought it was great. About 10 minutes later she said "Pee Pee" and crawled off. We followed her and sure enought she went right to the toilet and patted the lid. I asked her if she needed to sit on the potty and she told me yes so we tried! She looked so tiny percariouly perched on the seat, but she sat there for a little bit then said she was done. She got down, refused to put her diaper back on and peed on the floor. "uh oh...pee pee." she said. But you know I was so proud of her, she had the idea, she knew she had to go and where she needed to try and do it! Its a start. My baby is growning up!

So Mabel and I finished off our Mabel and Mummy Monday with just hanging out at the house trying to beat the 90 degree heat. We did make a quick jont to the store to buy a potty seat - she of course picked out the one with Elmo all over it. I tried to convince her that she waned the simple bamboo one, but no Elmo. I guess I should have known if I brought her with me we'd end up with something like that! Oh well, that one can go upstairs. We had fun, lots of fun! But then again we always do!

A New Friend...

I obsess...maybe that is something you haven't noticed about me, but I do. I read and read about things and once you learn something you just can't un-learn it. I'm always reading about the safety of toys these days. The poisons that are in plastic...of I hate plastic! Do you know how hard it is to avoid plastic when you have a baby - I can't even explain how hard it is to find just simple play toys that aren't riddled with plastic or PVC or fire retardants...all of which are bad for little bodies. So I search online, healthytoys.org, The Good Guide, SafBaby - oh I have lists of sites for reference and my holy grail was a true baby doll for Mabel.

Mabel loves baby dolls. At physical therapy she plays with the baby dolls. At the in door play area she will carry one around (or should I say drag it) joyfully exclaiming "Baby Doll!". I cringe everytime I see her hug one of those things or kiss it knowing the crap that is in them from all my over obsessive research. So I've looked and we've tried fabric dolls, sure she likes them, but not like those plastic things. Finally I found one by a German doll company Kathe Kruse. Yes it is plastic, but it is the safest plastic rated that I could find. Not a cheep doll either, but it is worth the extra safety and from what I could find it is the safest I can get. I found one on EBay for less than half of retail (yeah me!) and she still had her tags on!

We go it in the mail and Mabel knew it was for her. At first I wanted to wait for Christmas or her birthday, but hey as Zack said no one ever asks what they got for their 2nd birthday or 3rd Christmas right? She doesn't care. So here is Mabel's baby doll.

I asked Mabel what she wants to name her. "Papa" she said. I said "Oh, you can't name her we already have a Papa in the family." She thinks and smiles, "Baby Doll." So it is our new member of the family. Mabel is a little Mummy.

Oh and for all those people who say, "its just a doll, it isn't like she's going to eat it!" well exhibit 'A'.