Walkin' the Walk

Now the Walk I'm talking about is not a much heard about walk of pride or walk of shame....it's the Walk of my sweet little girl cruisin' for trouble. If you have a toddler, you've probably seen this walk. It's quite different than the "I need to walk up Bubby and smash his Legos walk" (though Lego smashing does occasionally occur on this Walk). Also different from the "find a quite place to poop walk". Very different than the "I'm deep in pretend land hunting in the forest walk".

This particular walk is marked by it's slow, meandering way through the house. Lips slightly pooched out, head swinging side to side scanning for something to get into. It is the walk of a restless toddler.

This is a popular Saturday morning walk. Lately, Pappy (my father-in-law) has been coming by and working with dad in the bathroom. That means two of her favorite men in the world are in there. She can hear them, but she can't see them unless they come out to cut some wood for find supplies. (Bubby, the other popular man in her life is either still sleeping or curled up in bed with a new book). For weeks she could watch them, through a secret window she discovered in the dining room. There is a plumbing access panel in the wall. Since the bathroom had NO walls, and the panel has a habit of sliding open about 4 inches....there was nothing between her and her men other than a thin sheet of window plastic mommy put up to keep dust out of the dining room. Toddles bliss.....quietly spying on the men until you couldn't stand it anymore and had to yell "Wha'choo doin' in the guys? Wha'choo doin'?"

Well, last week the walls went up. No more looking glass into man zone. So this morning she's walkin' the Walk.

I leave her to it for awhile because I'm a firm believer of kids entertaining themselves.....and I don't obsessively follow her because she it 2....old enough to wander her own home. But I keep pretty close tabs on her because I know she's looking for something to get into.

First, I came down from the bathroom (the working one....even mommies have to pee) to find all men in the bathroom discussing the plan for the day. No sign of Celia. I knocked and asked if she was in there (it's a small room, so it's best not to just swing the door open and check. You're likely to wack someone with the door....and I'm not one to impede progress!) They do take her in on occasion when they are having discussions. Her input is important after all!

Nope, she's not there. I listen closely and can hear the cat food clattering around in a way never caused by a cat, so I go down and find her making the cats some soup in the basement. The cats love that by the way.....they are impressed that a 2 year old has the time and skill to make them a gourmet kitty meal. All these adults do is dump some chow out of a bag and walk away. It's almost a trade off for all the toddler tail pulling and squishy hugs they must endure.

I bring her back to the living room and she goes right off again. This time to the dining room to poke at the plastic and lament that her window is dark.

Lastly, I find her on a kitchen stool, sniffing Pappy's coffee. This is a little scary because I have found her several times giving different toys a bath in my tea. And one memorable occasion I found a toy IN my tea....I'm pretty sure she put it there.

Finally I whipped out my mommy secret weapon: Valentine's. Yeah, I know it's March now....but she doesn't care. She also doesn't care that mommy bought boxes and boxes of leftover Valentines and stickers at Target's 90% off clearance for year round Valentine fun. Just give this girl some supplies and she's content to make everyone in the house a "bowentine" and then deliver the mail. She also pretty happy to put the stickers all over the place, including my couch and a few really itchy ones on my neck. Every few minutes she comes up to check on me, asking "Do they hurt momma? They don't hurt, do they?" I assure her they don't and she goes right on giving out "bowentines"