I did not pose this baby. She did all those things on her own. This is how sassy she is.
As we leave the confines of quarantine and make our debut in to the world of playdates and baby gyms and visits to the park, I am learning all sorts of new things about my baby girl.
Like how apparently, Scarlette is under the assumption that everyone in the entire world is engaged in a perpetual game of chase with her.
It doesn’t really matter if you have been informed of this fact or not. If you are breathing, Scarlette assumes that you want her to chase you. And being that she has teeny, tiny little legs to follow you with, the fact that she can not keep up and is always trailing behind only further encourages her in this vein of thought.
I took her to a baby gym this with my friend T. this week. T and I had a long conversation about asking people for permission to write about them on the internet, mainly because I am convinced that the reason I have been denied entry to our local mom’s club is because no one wants to be friends with me for fear that I might write about them on the internet. Which is a story I’ll tell you another day but the thing is, after that conversation about asking people permission to write about them on the internet, I promptly forgot to ask T permission to write about her on the internet. Thank goodness for initials, that’s what I always say.
Just kidding. I never say that.
Anyhow, T’s little boy moved nicely around the play center, running his trains along the track and acting like a child who has left his house before.
Scarlette took one look at the giant room of play things and then spent the next two and a half hours running from one side to the other shrieking “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” without ever taking a single breath.
Occasionally she would pause to throw some trains off the track or launch the pretend food out of the pretend kitchen but for the most part she just ran after the other children screaming nonsense words and giggling at them. Remember how I mentioned that she loves other kids?
She LOVES other kids. Adores them.
Even when some of the kids were rough with her or flat out mean to her, like that one little monster girl who put both hands on Scarlette’s chest and shoved her backwards so hard that her head hit the floor for no reason at all, she interpreted that as “YOU ARE INTERACTING WITH ME SO YOU MUST WANT TO PLAY WITH ME! LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG! AND ANOTHER HUG! AND ANOTHER! NOW I WILL CHASE YOU SOME MORE!”
Some of the older kids were playing in the bounce house and when I wouldn’t let Scarlette go in after them, she stood outside of it, bouncing up and down and chattering excitedly as though she had no idea that she wasn’t actually doing the exact same thing the older kids were doing.
Scarlette isn’t the child I expected to have. Jeff and I were both very calm, quiet children and I assumed our baby would be too. Instead, I’ve got this sparkling, sassy little bundle of energy who doesn’t stop from the moment her feet hit the floor in the morning. Actually, before her feet hit the floor as she chatters animatedly to, I don’t know…the wall? immediately upon waking. Also, she’s taken to giving me a rousing round of applause when I go in to get her from her crib. Which is really very flattering when you’ve yet to shower or brush your bedhead, I might add.
It’s so beautiful, watching her explore her world. It almost makes me want to sing a few lines from “I Hope You Dance” except that I kind of hate that song. Or at least, I did until I had a baby and now I just pretend to hate it while I secretly cry when it comes on the radio. Because I really do hope she never loses her sense of wonder.
Nicholas Sparks got it all wrong. Not only is Zac Efron incapable of pulling off a serious, romantic lead in a movie but also? I’m the luckiest one.
