Playing Catch-Up

This week has been a week of playing catch-up... not in the usual sense, when I'm saying I need to catch up on laundry or chores.  I'm trying to catch up with Tye's growth.  Somewhere in the past week, she left me behind and grew in warp speed.  


Tye's summer clothes are suddenly all too small on her (thank goodness for hand-me-downs to get us into fall).  We're well into the 12-18 month sizes now, and while they look gigantic, they fit.  One of Tye's friends we see weekly looked identical to her on Friday- same exact size, same short blonde fuzz on mostly-bald heads- but today, Tye looked bigger than her.  


The biggest change, however, has come in the past 48 hours.  Tye decided she no longer is interested in sitting.  Rather, she insists upon pulling herself up to standing wherever she is.  She'll use anything she can find to assist her, whether it's high up- like the seat of my chair at this morning's La Leche League meeting- or barely higher than the floor, like her stuffed toys, or somewhere inbetween, like Mico's head.  Once her bum is in the air and off the ground, she's happy.  Sunday, Tye discovered that she can pivot from our coffee table to the couch behind her, all while standing.  She moved from the coffee table to the couch, walked the length of the couch and back, then returned to the table.  Our living room is now her playground.


Tye also decided that she can no longer be held.  Until Monday, inside any one of our carriers was Tye's favorite place, cozied up to a parent with a great view of the world.  Today, she cried and squirmed and reached for the ground every time I put her in it.  When I took her out and carried her, she tried to jump out of my arms.  I'm confident that we'll get past this stage as she has more opportunity to crawl and explore, but it's been a tough one so far this week. 


Tye's increased mobility has its perks.  She has finally learned how to push herself up from her belly to sitting, which makes her happy (most kids do that naturally as they crawl on all fours, but Tye's army crawl requires a pushup).  Her moving also has its downsides, beyond even the obvious extra energy required to chase after her.  Because Tye's belly is still glued to the ground as she moves, her shirts and dresses are quickly becoming trashed.  For some reason, they just don't stand up to being dragged over the sidewalk, through the grass, and across the carpet.  They look like something from the "before" side of a laundry detergent commercial (the ones that say in fine print, "Results simulated.")  


I love watching Tye learn as she utilizes her new-found speed and height.  So much more of our world is accessible to her now.  However, she's frustrated already that she can't move fast enough, can't reach everything and can't stand everywhere.  I'm so looking forward to her walking, for her sake (certainly not for mine!), that I'm having to remind myself several times a day to appreciate today for today and what it brings.  I'll only have a crawler for a short amount of time.  Before I know it, I'll be running behind Tye to catch up.