My Tough Kookie

Soooo, I haven't blogged in a while: Seasons have changed--twice. Calender pages are blowing by in the wind. School is out--SUMMER VACATION! Uh-oh, school is in--"Gotta go back, back, back to school again!" Sunrise. Sunset. Sunrise. Sunset. Tumbleweeds. And yes, my blog-mentor taught me way better than this--"post at least every two weeks", yet here I am months down the road without a post. Sad. Pathetic really. So much has happened--if I tried to tell it all, you'd definitely think that I made it up. But, THIS is not a recap of the highs and lows of the last few months of my life--THIS is about the BOLDNESS of my daughter, Rebekah (now 1--YIKES)!

On Friday, I took Kaleb & Rebekah to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and play--its been over 90degrees for the past 57 days or something ridiculous like that, so outdoor play is out of the question right now. [Blogbar (trademark!): I'm not going to even think about how many germs own real estate in that play area; I'm not going to complain about how the bedazzled "mommy club" did not invite me into their conversation; and I'm definitely not going to disclose how obsessed I am with their new, YUMMY, spicy chicken sandwich. I'm just making a minor mention so that no one thinks that I wasn't paying attention.] We went into the play area (mental note--pack SOCKS when then kids are wearing sandals from now on) and let the games begin. Kaleb dragged newly-walking Rebekah all around the ground level area to show her the ropes since she'd never been there. They played together in that area, but when it came to the stair-tube (I don't know what else to call it, and but if you've seen any of these indoor play labyrinths, you know what I'm talking about) that went up to the other level, they only went up two steps. Now, when Kaleb was around 2, he went up and all around those types of things, but I've been noticing his reluctance to do any closed-top slides or anything like that over the past several months--not sure what that's about. Rebekah sized the stair-tube up, went up the first step and kept sliding back down--I wasn't surprised, I mean really what does she know about that? Oh, but, then she saw the curving tube slide on the other side of the play area--and decided that she could tackle it by climbing UP the darn thing. I didn't worry too much--I mean, how far could she really get? She's ONE for goodness sake. (I bet you're laughing at my naivte and saying something like, she's YOUR child, Kat. Am I right?) Well, she managaged to scoot about halfway up--but OTHER KIDS wanted to come down. Suffice it to say, there were a bunch of kids stuck in a pileup that were coming from the top because REBEKAH was in the middle of the curvy part of a TUBE SLIDE apparently humming "I Shall Not Be Moved" in her head. When she came down, she brought like FOUR much bigger kids with her. And was COMPLETELY non-plussed. Kaleb (who was NOT in the dreaded tube) looked in saw her then said, and I quote, "Ohhh, We-BEK-ahhhh!" and then laughed. Then she finished scooting and walked off to play with something else.

OHHH, but there's more!

After about 10 minutes passed, she wandered back over to the bottom of the tube slide and began a new ascent. Most of the kids were gone, and there weren't any at the top, so I didn't worry about her causing any new pileups. What I didn't count on was her ablility to climb ALL THE WAY UP--I mean, it's a slide, its slippery and she's ONE--but she DID. I had to convince Kaleb to go up after her--and he did, the SAME way as her (still wouldn't use the tube-stairs). Only then did he enjoy all of the things to do on the upper level. I couldn't see her, at ALL--he just kept saying, "Webekah's right here." (His tone said "She's right here, Mommy. DUH!) Apparently, some worried ladies out in the restaurant saw me looking up and having this conversation through the glass window, and sent a little girl in--"I'm going to go get your baby!". Yeah, by the time she climbed in there, Rebekah had come down the slide with Kaleb in tow. Both of them were cackling like hyenas. What do you think happened next? I know that you see it coming... YEP! She went RIGHT BACK up there again. Kaleb trailed her. They had some kind of fun up there for a while and slid down again. Meanwhile, I sat down on the couch. There's no reasoning with that girl, she's ONE. After the second time, I packed them up and took them home. Mental note, next time go before or after the lunch rush when there aren't so many people watching me let my teeny, tiny little girl walk UP a tube slide designed for at least twice her age unassisted.

Is it any wonder....
that they didn't invite me into their little mommy club?
that strangers constantly ask me how old she is and comment on how tough she is
at all of the playgrounds/play areas that we go to?

Ultimately, I know that I shouldn't be surprised. But, she's only been walking for a week--I figured it would be at least TWO WEEKS before she started this kind of thing. Kaleb often says, "Webekah, you need to maaan up!" (Honest, I don't know WHERE he got that from!). One day soon, she's going to say, "No, YOU man up, Kaleb!" And I promise, I won't be surprised, AT ALL!


*Note--This blog is from last year that I never posted--it was still worth sharing. Now she's TWO and she's an even TOUGHER cookie than she was when I wrote this.... long, long ago!