By By Thomas Tingle
Record Managing Editor
Our daughter Carlie, who turned one on June 22, is walking now.
I know there are a lot of moms out there who say their babies, back in the good old days, started walking the day after they were born and were able to eat table food when their eyes opened.
However, Carlie, as well as our son Austin, made up their own minds as to when they would walk, so we didn't push the issue with them at all. Carlie can't get enough table food now.
Now that she is up and running on her two little legs, she looks as though she's had a "few too many" to drink. Thank goodness for all the padding on the bottom from her diapers because she still hits the floor hard when she gets ahead of herself and falls down.
Carlie is completely different than Austin when it comes to grabbing everything in site. We never had to "baby proof" the house with Austin. He could have cared less about what was on the tables, inside the cabinets, or really anything for that matter. You gave him toys to play with and he was fine.
Carlie on the other hand is totally different. She grabs everything in site and the tables are basically stripped from anything she can get a hold of. That is fine. Babies are like that and it is expected. But when you were used to not having a baby proofed home, and now you've got to put everything out of arm's reach, that is quite a change.
Carlie decided to get up and try out her walking skills a couple of weeks ago, but last week, she really got into it and, for the most part, she does a pretty good job. She can get herself back up whenever she falls down, but she sometimes gets aggravated at herself if she can't get it into gear as fast as she'd like.
As proud parents, we videotaped her first steps in the kitchen. She had her arms up in the air and at times, she looked like she was on her tiptoes and trying out a new ballerina maneuver.
I think Austin is glad she's moving around better. He likes to show her that he's the older brother and she needs to listen to him. It's funny watching the two of them together. Carlie can't get enough of Austin, but she does put him in his place if she's not thrilled about something he's done. We've had to tell Carlie a few times to not show the "temper" side of herself and she's cried a few times after we've said no.
It's all a part of being a baby and being parents of small children.
Each child is unique and will do his own thing. No two kids are alike and will do the same thing as their sibling or the kid across the street. Jennifer and I've been told too many times from others that "this is the way our child did things and this is the way we handled the situation."
Good for them I say. However, we're establishing our own way of handling our children and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, we'll try something else.
I think Jennifer and I've learned that from Austin and Carlie – if it works, it works. If it doesn't, we'll try something else. They've got patients with us – sometimes, so Jennifer and I have to do the same thing with them.