Tag Archives: walking

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Proper toddler

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Thursday, 12 June 2014: One Year and Seventy Two Days OldAyla is a proper toddler now!

She’s finally traded in crawling, nearly altogether, and now spends 98% of her time toddling around.

I didn’t think toddling could be so cute!

Ayla’s walk is half-waddle, with stiff little out turned legs that make her body sway slightly from side to side with each step.

And then there’s the bubble butt! Seeing Ayla’s little legs sticking out from her nappy covered tush is adorable, she looks like the cutest little white tailed bee in the world as she toddles about the house.

What really made me realise that Hubby and I now have a toddler on our hands was when Ayla mixed her walking with her words.

As Hubby and I watched from the couch Ayla toddled purposefully over to the kitchen and looked up at the benches.

After a moment or two Ayla then turned back to us and asked, with all the right tone and inflection, “water?”

It was as clear as day and as cute as a button. Hubby and I both melted with love and he got up to give our clever little sausage her water bottle.

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Passion for fashion

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Sunday, 25 May 2014: One Year and Fifty Three Days Old.

Ayla’s developing a passion for fashion and I think the only thing stopping her from walking at home was a pair of sparkly shoes!!

This afternoon Ayla came crawling out of her room a hundred miles an hour dragging a t-shirt that she brought straight to me, handing it over expectedly.

I asked Ayla if she wanted me to help her put the shirt on to which she replied with a shriek and a smile.

I pulled the shirt over her head and buttoned it up at the shoulder; Ayla then stood back and grabbed at it , looking down as if to check that it looked alright!!

Then later this evening Ayla was playing quietly in her room, almost too quietly, so I stuck my head in to check on her.

I saw Ayla sitting on the floor surrounded by shoes, her shoe draw open, and she was trying to put a little pink sandal on her foot.

Ayla caught a glimpse of me and immediately held out the shoe so I could help her with it.

With one shoe on we went looking for the matching other, then when they were both on Ayla held my hands and charged out to the lounge room to show her Daddy.

After a brief parade she took me back into her room and selected a new pair of shoes, which again I helped her put on and she again showed them off to her Dad.

The third pair of shoes were sequinned, sparkly black slippers and Ayla seemed to like them the most.

She was almost running down the hall to show her Dad and when she finally got to him Ayla started stomping her feet, almost as if she was tap dancing with excitement.

Then I let her go.

Ayla walked the whole way down the hall by herself, and then back again.

Then she walked around the lounge to her toys.

It was as if all the encouragement Ayla needed to walk at home was a pair of pretty shoes, which of course is completely understandable… It’s amazing what a gorgeous pair of shoes can achieve 😉

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Ball skills

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Tuesday, 20 May 2014: One Year and Fifty Days Old.

Ayla might not be able to walk properly yet, but she knows how to kick a ball!

I don’t know where Ayla learned to kick except from maybe watching a bit of AFL on TV, but today Ayla proved to Hubby and I that she certainly has hand eye coordination.

The ball kicking goes with Ayla’s ability to throw a ball, over arm, in any direction she chooses; both being skills that apparently only 50% of children have mastered by the time they reach 21 months!!

Does this mean Ayla’s gifted? Or is it just one of those skills she developed ahead of average time frames.

Not surprisingly, Hubby is ecstatic. As a natural, ambidextrous sports person he can hardly wait to play a bit of touch footy with Ayla in the back yard.

While that will have to wait until Ayla walks, and then runs, for now we’ll have to be content to bask in her greatness and nurture her (potential) talent!

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No steps

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Monday, 19 May 2014: One Year and Seven Weeks Old.

I found out today that Ayla has been walking around heaps at day care!

Although I’d know Ayla had taken a few steps last week, when I picked her up today the day care mums greeted me with excited claims that Ayla was now properly walking.

Of course I couldn’t wait to get home and see Ayla out her new skills in action but alas, at home Ayla seems perfectly content on all fours.

Throughout the afternoon and evening Ayla keep standing and clapping, but still no steps.

Then when we went out for a swim before dinner Ayla walked the whole length of the patio holding on to her Daddy’s hand with the biggest smile on her face.

My heart melted and a took a moment to record the memory in my brain forever; a tiny little blonde haired, chubby legged Baby Ayla, holding on tight to get Daddy’s weathered hand, both of them oozing pride and happiness like I’ve never seen before.

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First steps!

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Saturday, 17 May 2014: One Year and Forty Seven Days Old.

Ayla took her first, proper, unassisted steps today!!

Apparently Ayla did take a few steps a day care this week, but Hubby and I decided that it didn’t count unless we saw it for ourselves.

And today, we did!

It’s Saturday so Hubby was working and Ayla and I were busy pottering around the house catching up on a few chores.

Around lunch time Ayla and I decided to take a break, and I put a friends single mattress on the floor so I could stretch out my back and play with Ayla at the same time.

It didn’t take long for Ayla to realise the cushioning properties of the mattress and with minutes she was standing on it and clapping her hands.

I moved down to one end of the mattress and Ayla worked out why straight away; coming at me down the blue foamy runway with four tentative, wobbly, chubby-baby-leg steps!

I squealed with excitement and gave Ayla the biggest hug, which set her off on a pattern of stand-step-step-step-step-fall for the next half an hour.

All I could think of though was how much I wished Hubby was there to share in the moment, and I felt so sad for him missing out.

Thankfully Ayla was so happy to show off her skills that she let me take a quick video (will post it in a sec) so that Daddy could see our little TODDLER in action.

Ayla still isn’t walking around properly yet mind you, but it must only be days away! For now though Ayla seems content to limit her walking to padded surfaces which gives Hubby and I plenty of time to get ready for a whole new chapter.

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Any day now

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Wednesday, 14 May 2014: One Year and Forty Four Days Old.

Ayla is sooo close to walking, she’ll become a toddler any day now.

If I’ve said that before, I know, but I was wrong then because now I see how close to walking Ayla really is.

Just in the last few days Ayla has learned to stand up by herself unassisted, and to me she looks really quite stable and solid.

Ayla’s also started walking while we hold her hand; only one hand instead of two!

And, Ayla can now pick something up off the floor and stand holding it and playing with it without a single wobble.

Although Ayla isn’t quite walking yet, she’s definitely started climbing and this morning I caught her on the tray of her high chair! (Hence why she are the rest of her breakfast on the floor as shown in this photo).

Apparently the average age for walking nowadays is 14months (even though I walked at 9 months nearly 30 years ago) so the sooner Ayla starts toddling about the happier I’ll be… I think!

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Do the five

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Friday, 11 April 2014: One Year, One Week and Three Days Old.

Ayla took her first steps today!

Don’t get too excited though… Ayla’s first steps were in the pool!

We have a huge pool at our place and at one end there’s an inbuilt spa with a big seat capable of fitting five or six adults, so that’s where Ayla learned how to put one foot in front of the other.

For weeks now Ayla has been practicing how to stand by using Hubby or I as balance posts for pulling herself up to standing on the couch while we sit, but I thought she was still a long way off walking.

Until today when Ayla somehow put two and two together and let go of the side of the pool, then took two steps toward me.

I was stoked, surprised and so proud, but it didn’t last long.

Ayla was so pleased with herself that she transformed in to a crazed, one year old female version of Evil Kneivel and began launching herself into the depths of the pool.

Ayla must have swallowed a litre of water in her “look-I-think-I-can-swim-but-I-can’t” stunts, but still it didn’t deter her.

After Ayla got bored of freaking mummy out by trying to run and jump off the step, she decided to up the ante by getting out of the pool so she could crawl and fall off the edge instead.

In short, my nerves are shot.

It was bloody hard work keeping track of Ayla, even when I held her she was still squirming to dive under, and I can totally see how tragic pool-side accidents happen.

I think it’s a timely reminder to do the five and keep this kid alive! :

Fence the pool,
Shut the gate,
Teach your kids to swim – it’s great!
Supervise,
Watch your mate,
And learn how to resuscitate!

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Stood up!

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Tuesday, 25 February 2014: Three Hundred and Thirty Days Old.

Ayla stood up by herself for the first time today!

I don’t think she realised what was happening and she kind of freaked out a little bit, but Ayla was definitely standing up completely unassisted for at least five seconds.

I had just fed her and as Ayla looked no where near sleep I popped her on the floor. But instead of putting her down to sit Ayla’s feet hit the floor first and she actually felt stable.

So I let go.

Ayla didn’t move at first then slowly her arms moved outwards and upwards to help her keep her balance… I just wish I could have seen her expression but with the way I had put her down Ayla was facing away from me.

After a few seconds I could see Ayla’s knees start to bend and her bottom started inching towards the ground, eventually it landed with a solid thud.

I was so excited for her! I kept trying to get Ayla to do it again but she didn’t want a bar of it and refused to stand at all; assisted or not.

We will keep practicing though, so stay tuned!

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A baby on the go

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Saturday, 25 January 2014: Two Hundred and Ninety Nine Days Old.

When I made the call and said Ayla would be “properly” mobile within a fortnight, I didn’t expect it to be so soon!

Ayla is so good at crawling now that I’m already starting to experience the “oh crap, she’s too quiet” moments, and my privacy is well and truly out the window.

Hubby also noticed the impact of Ayla’s mobility when she crawled her way from one end of the house to the other today and set up camp in front of the fishing rod rack in our bedroom.

It must have only been seconds but Ayla somehow managed to dig out a box of hooks and even get one out… O.M.G. What have we got ourselves in to!?

I also found Ayla standing in front of the vanity draws in the bathroom this morning. She had one draw open fully and was happily pulling out and throwing everything she could get her hands on.

And talk about getting ready to go out! It used to only take me about 15 minutes to get out of the house with Ayla, but today it took nearly an hour; turns out it’s hard work catching, cleaning and clothing a baby on the go!