The Go Getter

"Can you go walk with her now?" Mrs. LIAYF asked, as she handed Annabelle to me.

It was more of a 'You're it' than a request really.  I had already taken one turn walking with Annabelle, before giving her off to my lovely wife.  Now, it was apparently my turn once again.  And so, I put her down onto the restaurant floor, and like a shot she was off.  She had purpose to her gait, like she knew exactly where she was going.

We turned to corner, and she paused only for a moment to push on the glass door that served as the entrance to the Fish and Chips joint, before she turned and was off down the sidewalk.  At nearly 17 months I can't say she was running, but she was coming as close to it as I suppose any 16 month old could.

We went up the side walk nearly a half a block, climbed some stairs, slapped some walls, then it was time to head back once again.

Spring has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest both on the calendar, and in the air.  It was a very nice, sunny, weekend here albeit still a bit on the cold side at around 50 degrees.

Mrs. LIAYF and I took advantage of the weather and an unusually long afternoon nap from Annabelle to do some much needed yard work.  I say much needed because, well, because we haven't done anything out there since last Fall.  Yeah.....I think I mentioned a 16 month old.

Let me rephrase that.  We have a baby! (I'm going to use that excuse until she is at least two at which time I'll have to think of a new excuse).

Anyway, we worked hard and got a lot of yard stuff done.  Yay!  We actually worked hard enough that we decided to reward ourselves by walking up to the previously mentioned Fish shop for dinner.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

As I mentioned Annabelle had her own ideas.  Sitting still while we dined out wasn't one of them.  I shouldn't be surprised though.

That's because she is a 'Go-Getter'.  It doesn't matter what IT is, she is the type of baby who will go get it (And usually toss it aside quickly before moving onto the next item to go get).  Seriously though, this girl rarely stops moving.

Whether it be on the changing table, or sitting in a high chair for dinner, Annabelle is not content to just sit there with a smile.  She HAS to be busy.  Lukas was like that too, and at 6 1/2 he still hasn't slowed down, proving himself to be one of the most squirmy of a highly squirmy group of 1st grade boys.  No easy feat, by any means.

Now, apparently, we will have a girl version of squirmy to deal with until that mythical day far in the future when they both have 'Settled'.  I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure some of you out there are saying to yourselves "All kids are squirmy though".   This is not true, as too many times Mrs. LIAYF and I see children of equivalent ages to our kids quietly sitting with their parents at restaurants and events.

These parents seem to be enjoying themselves too!

For instance, at aforementioned Fish Shack, there was a nice looking family sitting in the both right behind us with another 16 month old girl.  Did her parents have to wrestle with her to keep her still? No.  Did they have to take her on  several walks in the span of the 30 minutes it took to eat their Cod and Fries?  NO!

You know what she did do?  No? She sat there quietly with a smile on her face.  Eating her food.  Ugh!

Mrs. LIAYF looked over at this little girl at one point and deadpanned "How did we get lucky enough to have 2 kids who couldn't sit still to save their lives?"  I just laughed.  So did she.

The truth is, as hard as it can be to have active, inquisitive kids, we know that those traits will serve them well as they grow year by year towards adulthood.  These aren't kids who will sit by and watch as life happens to them,  but rather will take an active role in their own fates.  This is a good thing, and as much as we look at other kids calmly sitting with their families, we really love our squirmy kids to death.  Life is never dull in our world.

As Annabelle determinedly passed by another table in the restaurant, a kindly older gentleman smiled a big smile and looked up at me following close behind.

"Wow, she's a real go getter!" he let me know.

He didn't know the half of it.