Learning from a 9-month old

It starts with a simple, wooden turtle. Like all 9-month old children, I'm sure, Louisa has extreme curiosity for certain mundane objects - Nate's cell phone, a tube of hand cream, my name badge and a wooden turtle, to name a few.

Well the wooden turtle is a door-stop in Lou's room and whenever I set her down on the zebra rug, she immediately crawls to the turtle and relieves him of his duties. Normally I am in the room putting clean clothes away, refilling the wipes or changing the crib sheet, but today I set Lou down, grabbed a used diaper, and went into the bathroom to give it a pre-wash rinse. I heard a little wimper - baby for "mom, don't go!" and then heard the bedroom door gently shut. As I rinsed the diaper and washed my hands, I talked to Lou - the closest I could come at that point to announcing my departure to make Lou trust that when I leave, I'll come back (they say that's what you're supposed to do...?) When I came back, I heard her little grunts and short breaths - my first clue that she was standing up using the back of the door for support. She sounded happy though, so I just waited for her to lower herself down and move away from the door, which happened fairly quickly. During this quick minute though, I pictured Louisa as a teenager, slamming her bedroom door, yelling "leave me alone mom!" That won't really happen, will it?

More curiosity nearly caused a mess once we came downstairs and I started to type this. Lou was very content, pulling board books off the shelf in the living room as I typed. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw her take interest in a houseplant. I swept her up just in time to prevent a scattering of very dry soil all over the floor. We've learned that she's quicker than you'd think - crawling, grabbing, inserting objects into her mouth.

Apparently bored with her toys and books, she is now attempting to open the gas stove. Don't worry, it's not hot and we don't turn it on when she is crawling around unless someone is guarding it.

Thanks for teaching me how to baby proof a house, little one! Here is one more picture to show my most recent sewing project: black-out curtains for Louisa's bedroom. I like to think they are the reason for her 2.5 hour nap this morning.