"Supposed To"

As a parent, I often hear myself utter the words, "supposed to" as it relates to some developmental milestone for Addie. Such as: "Isn't she supposed to have more teeth at this point?" However, what I find myself saying much more often is "NOT supposed to." I think every parent has inherent within them to brag about what their kids are doing at each age - how far along they are, what they are doing/saying, etc. Somehow, we think that our children are the most brilliant things that walk the earth...

But lately, I am finding myself more and more making statements in sheer disbelief rather than in a bragging tone. Addie simply is "not supposed to" be doing half of the things she is doing at this stage in life - 11 months old. And I think I say it both in disbelief and sadness because I feel like we have somehow been robbed of her "babyhood" faster than most parents. I can cite example after example, but here are just a few:

Walking

This one will be short. Addie at 10 months was full-on walking. Now at 11 months, she is practically running. She loves the game of chase, and will play until she is panting like a dog, and we have to calm her down by giving her juice. Hilarious.

Individual Play

Starting at about 9 months old, Addie decided that going off by herself in her toy corner was a lot of fun. She would sit for over 20 minutes playing with one little toy like a ribbon - entertaining herself for so long, that it worried us at times just how quiet she was being. Now at 11 months, she does this at times for close to an hour - digging toy after toy from her toybox, talking (babbling really) to them, putting them into her mouth, and then moving on to the next toy. She is so independant at times, it is isolating as a parent - she doesn't even want you over there playing with her, as she will swat your hand away and keep on playing by herself. Don't get me wrong - MOST of the time she is the most social baby ever - wanting you in her face, playing, talking, and generally having a good time. It's just that she is "not supposed to" be doing this so young...

Animal Noises

Addie loves animals. And since she was about 9 months old, she has been obsessed with trying to repeat sounds we make. She decided that the duck sound was just so much fun - that she started quacking every time she saw a duck. So we started asking often, "what does a duckie say?" And each time, she would dutifully answer us, "QUACK QUACK" For those of you that don't believe it - we have timestamped video to prove it.

Since then, she moved onto the cow - making the "moo" sound that eerily sounded more like "mama" than "moo." Remarkably, she knew the difference between the two animals, and would answer the two questions differently when asked - "quack" for duck and "moo" for cow. Her latest and perhaps FUNNIEST OF ALL sounds is the monkey. She is perhaps the cutest little monkey ever when she says the monkey sound - "ooo ahah." At one point, all you had to say is the word "monkey" and she would erupt with the sounds of the jungle. She is hilarious.

On a sad note - in the last couple of days, she has stopped making all sounds, and now looks at us as if we have three heads when we ask her what certain animals say...please tell me this is just a phase.

Mickey & Elmo

Addie loves Mickey Mouse and Sesame Street. She is actually OBSESSED with them and watches VERY intently when they come on the TV. So much so, that we have had to limit her TV time to only 2-3 20 min episodes a day as she would watch them all day without moving much if we let her. Now when they come on, she just sits like a little girl in front of the TV with her feet crossed almost indian-style and watches the images go past. We are convinced that she knows what is going on - and it was proven the other day when Mickey started clapping for one of Pluto's tricks and Addie just begun to clap right along with them - smiling and giggling.

Addie loves these two cartoons so much - that we have gotten her the stuffed animals that correlate with the show. The other day I laid out Zoe, Elmo, and Mickey on the ground and asked her to find Mickey. She prompted walked over to Mickey, squatted down, picked him up, and delivered him to me. I said, "good job!" and she clapped for herself and grinned broadly! I then asked her where Elmo was...she did the same for Elmo. She is too smart...Is she supposed to be doing this so young?

Another little trick she does with both Elmo and Mickey is so funny. In the mornings, Eric has taken to getting her out of bed and giving her the morning bottle. She takes about half of it, and then gets down to play. Eric proceeds to turn on SportsCenter or Fox News and lets her go about the hurricane-like destruction of the entire house. However, when she gets bored, she has been known to pick up either Elmo, Zoe, Mickey (or sometimes all three) and bring them to daddy. She then looks at the TV as if to say - "daddy, isn't it time for some Sesame instead of the news?" We have our hands full with this one - I tell you...

Although there are many other examples indicating how Addie is growing up too fast, I don't have the time to recount them all here - perhaps another time. I can hardly believe she is going to be a year old in just over two weeks...my how the time flies - but then again, I guess it is "supposed to."