Mia's New Trick

Here’s a glimpse at the latest accomplishment at the Henry household.

I had DELUDED myself into thinking that having a girl would mean more sedentary play, but have OBVIOUSLY been mistaken. I also remember writing, not so long ago, a nostalgic post about how Mia is approaching the time when Toby WOULD have walked if ONLY he had not been intubated. Well, Toby, intubated or not, your little sister has CLEARLY beaten your gross motor development. How quickly life proves us wrong.

This weekend, defying all gender stereotypes and parental expectations, Mia unexpectedly decided to walk on her own. I quickly hollered to Rob to grab the video camera.

As it is with second kids, Rob was busy sending an email. Toby was playing with his trucks. By the item I got them organized she was doing it for the FOURTH TIME in a row. (Thank HEAVENS she’s compliant). And, as you can tell by the embarrassingly shrill tone to my voice, I am JUST as excited as I was on Take #1.

And so Mia has found her feet. And not only that, she has found her NICHE in life. What the video shows is take #4. What you don’t see is take #5, 6 and 7…. We are currently on Take #45. Mia, our quiet, no assuming baby girl quickly caught on to this new trick as her one ticket to getting attention in life. No matter WHAT her older brother is doing, she has figured out that she will gain EVERYONE’s attention by merely letting go of whatever object she is holding onto and taking a few tentative steps on her own. Yesterday morning Toby and I were sitting on the couch reading a book that Mia wasn’t all that interested in. Surprisingly, she didn’t put up a fuss but crawled over to the coffee table, stood up and then let go and started walking back towards the couch as if to say,

“Don’t mind me, Mommy. I’m just going to WALK. You keep reading with Toby while I just take a FEW STEPS ON MY OWN over here.”

Needless to say, her tactics have been effective on all three of us and we continually reinforce her walking/malingering behaviour by fervent clapping and high-pitched praises. You gotta give the second child a FEW Moments in the spotlight every now and then…

And just to embarrass myself even more with my high-pitched-baby-flapping-voice, here is Mia trying to walk under the most ARDUOUS of circumstance- getting from me to her favourite person in the world; Toby. It is particularly challenging as she gets SO EXCITED by his attention that it’s hard to concentrate on the new skill of WALKING at the same time.