Week 45 – Five Step, Six Step, Seven Step, More!

Last week, we mentioned that after a weekend of taking multiple steps, Elise inexplicably gave up on walking and went back to crawling. This was a very odd regression, especially considering that she has been trying to walk since she was like two weeks old. This week, however, she seems to have not only regained her walking abilities but she is now suddenly walking around like she’s been doing it for years.

On Tuesday, Ellie was sitting in the living room playing, then suddenly stood up without using anything to pull up on (a feat that I don’t think either of us knew she was capable of) and walked over to me (about 15 steps). And with that, her confidence was back and she hasn’t stopped walking since. In the beginning of the week, she walked a bit like a Halloween character, perhaps a mummy or Frankenstein, with her arms straight out, moaning and hobbling. It was like she was on a tight rope or balance beam, every step required extreme concentration. She would often stop mid-walk to re-center herself, sometimes squatting down, and then raising up again after finding balance.

It’s completely amazing how quickly her skills have improved in just a few days. Now she’s picking things up and walking around while holding them without a thought, and having very little problems with balance. Yesterday she was walking around in a sandbox at the playground! Some adults can barely navigate themselves around in sand!

In addition to becoming a full-fledged walker, Elise has also picked up other skills and a quirky habit this week. First up, on Wednesday, she suddenly developed the ability to wave good-bye. For weeks she has been flailing her arm around in response to our saying good-bye, and we called that waving (which maybe it was, but it was a crazy, spastic kind of wave that made people nearby duck to avoid getting smacked by her little hand). But on Wednesday as we were saying good-bye to someone at daycare, she opened and closed her hand, very deliberately, in a much less wild kind of wave. Again, we were blown away by this abrupt development.

Secondly, Ellie has begun to give high fives. I am not sure if this is a skill that she’s developed or something that we just began doing with her, but at any rate, anything that involves slapping or hitting is wildly fun for our little bully. So naturally “high five” is her new favorite game, and just saying “high five” makes her bust into a smile from ear to ear.

Her latest quirk is that now that her lone little tooth is completely up, she is fully aware of it, and is constantly feeling it with her tongue. This is quite hilarious, because she has been doing a lot of walking around with her tongue hanging out like a panting dog or Michael Jordan. Or maybe the sticking her tongue out phase is not about feeling her tooth, and more a statement to all of her non-walking buddies (“So long suckers! I’m outta here!”) Either way, it’s odd yet totally adorable.

Finally this week, in a disturbing discovery about her personality, Elise is quite clearly establishing her reputation as a bad girl. As we have mentioned before, she likes to climb the stairs, and when we tell her ‘no’ she smiles and shakes her head and keeps going. The other day, Ellie went over to the stairs and began climbing. Marty told her no, but went back to doing what he was doing. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Ellie turned to look at him and subsequently stopped and came back down the stairs when she realized that he was not watching her. When he looked back up at her, she started climbing the stairs again. What’s the fun of being bad if you don’t get caught? Oh boy – we are in some serious trouble.