Is it April already? Life with the tornado girl!

Amazingly it has been almost 2 months since I last visited my site! I just don't have the time to sit down and not be interrupted a zillion times.

Our 'little lady' is quite an octopus these days! She can get anywhere fast---and that girl can reach! She is quite tall for her age. She can reach up onto the counter and pull off anything (including cups of coffee and cutlery--yikes!) Thankfully no accidents there yet, as we are usually watching her like a hawk. But she is into everything; and although she understands "no" and the things she's not supposed to do, her drive for exploring and experiencing is just too strong! She can't seem to help herself and will continue doing what we have repeatedly pulled her away from---very typical 18 months, but also she is somewhat strong-willed and *wants* to continue just to see if she can and for how long. And, for her everything is enjoyable! Just rustling papers frantically, sends her into squeals of laughter with cheeky smiles---until she sees me coming and she tries to put them back. It's so difficult, as I know she needs to explore; however, we also can't have her shredding things, chewing on shoes, pulling Engineering books off shelves onto toes, and basically leaving a tornado-type path in her wake! So, I am left to love her so much and also feel so frustrated with her---that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, the boys are just like that...

In trying to keep her from exploring TOO much, we also have to work extra hard to keep her safe (while still letting her play and learn)---that also is difficult. She thinks she can 'walk' up and down the stairs (only been on two feet for 2 months) or dive head-first into the tub! And because she is tall, she can climb up onto any table or chair and we constantly find her standing on things--boxes or baskets turned upside down, or a footstool that she has pushed up to stove!!! We are starting to call her "Lydi-danger"! I will try to include the pic of her sitting on top of my kitchen desk (surrounded by dreadful stacks of papers and books!), happily picking through interesting things while perched on her knees 3 feet off the ground!

Last week we had our first trip to the ER---well, Urgent Care at Children's Mercy. She was cruising passed the banister post (with square corners at the bottom), slipped and banged her head on it---immediate dripping blood and screaming. I knew right away we needed "glue" as it was a split open cut. So, off we went to get her sweet little head glued back together (after we found clothes because we were still in our jammies at 10 am!). As we went there, I remember thinking "how many more times will I be here with this little one??" and "how am I going to keep this child safe? we've had her 4 months and the bonks and bruises are a daily thing!"

I know we are in the toddler phase and it doesn't last forever. However, Lydia is making up for lost time and it seems she will be catching up for awhile---experiencing those things that she didn't have a chance to for the first 14 months of her life. And it seems more difficult because we never had that infant stage with her---just straight to the crazy stuff! No laying around in a bouncy seat. We are constantly on the go and I am never alone--her following me around or me tracking her down to catch the next item that's being tossed in the toilet! Challenging, and exhausting, but I wouldn't change it for anything....