Slow down little mama

“Pit pat pit pat pit pat” goes the sound of tiny feet slapping against marble tiles, as she accelerates her way, doing laps around our living room. As a sprinter arches her neck forward as she approaches the finish line, so does our daughter, as she stands up and propels herself forward at top speed.

Her fists are clenched adorably by her side, an invisible steering wheel clenched between her fists to steer her body around the sofas and side tables that form her race track.

She spots my basket of laundry in one corner, zooms in on it with laser precision, and precedes to pluck each piece of offending clothing to the left, right, or behind, as her whim dictates.

I drop any and all efforts of scheduling social media posts for a client, rushing over to pick up pieces of clothing decorating part of our floor, while our little gymnast has moved onto her next mission: tugging at the wires of a charging station we had set up in the middle cubicle of our bookshelf which she is now tall enough to reach.

When she is bored, she climbs our mini two-step stairs, venturing explore the dining area. In the split second I turn my back to pick up her toys, she has scaled her way up the side table where I have propped her tablet (for playing her nursery rhymes) to change the configurations herself.

Her little fingers have developed a lightning speed of their own. They have swiped down beloved coffee mugs, plunked my tiny phone into a warm cup of tea I was enjoying moments before she woke up that morning, and are a powerful magnet for any piece of paper left lying around or on top of surfaces previously too tall for her reach. Slow down little mama!

She keeps us on our tip toes, but no matter how vigilant our efforts in clearing table surfaces, she always manages to find something to explore with her hands, feet and mouth.

It wasn’t so long ago that I couldn’t wait for baby girl to sit on her own so I don’t need to prop pillows around her. At that time, sitting was her first step to her developing confidence in her balance and start figuring out how to crawl. This was after she turned six months.

The moment she mastered sitting, next thing was crawling and simultaneously holding on to anything taller than her sitting position so she could pull up to a standing position. I could see her delight as she could view her world around from a taller vantage point. She would stand for ages at a time, clinging onto the edge of her playpen. It went a long way to strengthen her leg muscles as she started cruising in laps around her playpen.

I knew back then she would be faster than average in walking. However, she developed a great caution outside the soft padded world of her play pen. She crawled everywhere with such speed and rhythm. I could monitor her movements from the sound of knees and hand smacking against the tiles. It wasn’t till 3 months later, she started trying to stand unaided and taking her first steps between the center table and sofa. Then came the wonderful experience of cheer leading our little one along her lessons in balance and walking.

If I thought my life as a mum busy then, boy what was I even complaining about? *smile* Sometimes I wonder, is it our princess whom I want to slow down or time itself? How I wish I can capture these cute adorable fast paced moments in a time capsule I can come visit and re-live the experience any time I want. Or have a remote I can rewind to precious moments like the Adam Sandler’s movie “Click”…

Any one in my shoes right now? Or do you remember those good old days when the grown up beside you was a wee toddler exploring his/her world with such enthusiastic glee? Let me know in comment section below!