Construction Zombies

Have I mentioned to you that Mia is walking? I feel I need to clarify: way back when I posted the video of her first steps I believe I used the term. Back then it was more like “stepping tentatively”. NOW, a mere 2 weeks later, Mia is DEFINITELY walking.

In fact, (apart from defeting her brother at the nightly game of Tiger) it is her absolute favourite thing to do.

It is as if she is an elite athlete, rehearsing her sport in her sleep at night and coming back to her game refreshed and leaps and bounds ahead of herself the next morning. Every day she wakes up to cheerfully show off her newfound walking improvements; casually, as if they have been there all along but with a victorious grin that lets us know that she is QUITE proud of her new skills.

Being able to walk is quite liberating. Not only can you SEE more when you go on a walk about, but you are able to make more rational decisions and plans as to how you will spend your time. For example, Mia used to crawl around the house purposelessly, sometimes following us, sometimes following Toby, and sometimes following the dog. But now, being able to WALK, she follows the beat of her own drum.

Sometimes while we are in the kitchen doing such mundane tasks as eating dinner, cooking dinner or cleaning up from dinner, Mia will INSIST on getting down and then make her way to her bedroom and spend a good 5 minutes in there by herself, rummaging around through her stuff (that is now REACHABLE to someone on 2 feet) and then reappear with a prizewinning find in her hand.

“AHA!” the look on her face will say, “I have FOUND what I was looking for. It is a wooden NAIL!”

That’s right. My little girl once again disappoints the stereotypical part of my brain that longed for sugar and spice. The “shelf” that she can now reach contains palpable “toys” of all sorts; swim diapers, pink shoes and socks, little books, dolls, hair brushes and multicoloured foam alphabet letters. But no matter how long she spends “rummaging” she always navigates towards one particular array of toys; Toby’s wooden construction kit. And we never tire of seeing her triumphant two-toothed- grin, as she emerges from her room with a wooden nut or bolt or screw in her tight little fist.

I guess one could say it was all fun and games until she discovered the HAMMER last night. Our furniture, and Zak have yet to recover. The rest of us are still finding it endearing.

The funny part of this newfound development is in the uniquely 11-month-old hand placement. In my opinion, Mia is walking far before the point where her brain is developed enough to make rational sense of this new ability. (Hence the ridiculous choice of wooden construction toys she proudly produces for us!) But her feet are also ahead of her upper torso. Although she seems to be able to motor quite quickly with her legs, her arms, on the other hand, remain the tentative rate limiting part of her gait and she continues to walk with them straight out in front of her.

And hence the title of this enamoured post: my little construction zombie.

It’s hard to believe that a year ago, as we got our Christmas decorations out from the boxes, I didn’t even know whether she was a boy or a girl. And now here she is, blessing our lives with her exuberantly awkward walk and her intense love of her brother that has her growling with ferocious “Da’s” and choosing wooden nails over pink dolls while simultaneously shattering every preconceived thought I’d had about having a daughter of my own.

Oh, Mia, how we love you so…