King Kong, Look Out… Here I Come.

I saw that big building everywhere– you couldn’t help but see it. The Empire State Building is what Mama told me that it was called. It was right there in the middle of everything. We saw it when we came in, we saw it in Sunnyside, Queens where our little house camp has been, and we saw it all over town while we were busy seeing all of the people and things around us (and we did a lot of running– Daddy says that is what you do when you are in a city as big and powerful as New York is, and he said that the people that live there are really busy everyday too).

We were running and running all day, but then Grandpa told us that we were going to get to go to the top of the big part of the Empire State Building and that he was getting tickets so we needed to get ready. Mama bundled me up and told me that it was going to be cold way up there.

The inside of the building was so bright and everything was really shiny. Mama said something about it being “Art Deco” style and that it was one of the best ways that they built things in the history of things being built. She told me that it took a long time to make it, and she told me that a lot of people worked on it really hard to build it a long time ago back when most people had very little and when it was harder to make giant things. She said it was the tallest building in the whole world for a long, long time.

Mama, me, Daddy, my big sister Addie, Grandpa, and Mama Linda all rode up and up and up and up in an elevator… then, when you thought you made it, we went on another elevator and went up even more. When we got out, I could see the entire world. The world was right there in front of me and everything else down where we were on the ground looked so, so small. Everyone looked like the Little People that I have to play with way down there.

Addie looked down and held the bars, but I wanted to get higher. I tried to climb on the bars to get up and up more, but Mama and Daddy kept me down instead and told me that climbing the Empire State Building was not a good idea at all and that I was not King Kong. Mama looked very worried, but she should know that I have no fear. I don’t know who King Kong is, but whoever he is (I think Daddy said something about him being a big gorilla) he better watch out for me. I am Dorian, hear me roar.

I am the Queen of the World and the Captain of my Ship: The Cart Commander

I have always loved going to stores with Mama and Daddy because I get to get up high in the big cart. I sit in the front like I see all of the other little people do– sitting right in front of their Mamas and Daddies. I have a little strap that puts me in place, but it isn’t like the straps that go all around me like in the car or the jogging stroller—there is just one of them, and I am more free.

I discovered that I can turn backwards, then slide like a snake up, and I can stand the other way. Mama and Daddy seemed pretty stressed by this, and I heard them say the words “fall” and “not safe.” They turned me around and told me to sit on my bottom, but I am not to be deterred. Daddy should know that because my Granny says that he was just like me when he was really little and that he climbed and was something called “stubborn” and that he had a “red-headed” temper when he couldn’t do what he really wanted to do. You’d never know it now… Daddy seems to never have a temper with me.

I went back and back to standing, and they kept putting me back down again, but I won because I never get tired of trying no matter how much I am set back. They held their hands out to keep me from falling, and I spread my wings and I flew. I shouted and sang because I was able to fly like the airplanes that I see in the air above me. I heard Daddy singing something that said “My heart will go on and on” and Mama laughing and saying the word Titanic, but I have no idea what that word means. All that I know is that I flew and I will get to fly again… if the strap is just loose enough for me to wriggle myself free. Until next time, cart ship, until next time my friend.

I Can Reach the Highest Heights… I am a Butterfly, but I am Not Yet a Cheetah

Mama and Daddy have been working with me walking for a while now. They are working hard to help me, and they are holding my hands while I go in circles around the house. I can even go with them holding one hand when I am strong. I am practicing my standing now, and I stand and stand and stand and I balance. I will walk soon, but I am not ready, and when I get ready to take steps forward, my mind tells me that it is not time yet and I sit instead and crawl ahead. I am faster that way.

I may not walk, but I can climb. I have been climbing up and up and up on the couch, on the bed, on the chairs, even on the table. I can get to one place and then another one that is higher up and then another if I put things together like steps. I can even climb an entire staircase, and I can get right back down again by carefully sliding backwards with my little legs. It’s hard work, because the steps are about half of me each, but I can do it because it means getting to other, new places.

One day, not long from now, I will take off. I will take flight, and I will go and go and go and go and go and run and run and run. For now, I will climb to the highest of heights that my little legs will let me, despite my Mama’s and Daddy’s worry, and I will be just fine. Don’t worry, Mama and Daddy… I may stumble, but I know that you will be right there to catch me. You always, always are after all—right behind me, helping to lift me up and make me better when I fall.

Next Stop, Mt. Everest. Up and Down… and Up… and Down… and Up Again.

My Mama watches me like a hawk. She says it is to make sure that I am okay and that I am safe. I say it is to interrupt my artistic decorating (Mama calls this baby Godzilla decorating as I move things all around the house) and my ability to go to new places in our house. Despite her efforts, I am finding new things all the time. Yesterday I found the basket of chargers and the dog food bag. Those are both in new places and I heard Mama say, “no, no, no” when she moved them.

She can’t stop me, though. No one can. I am an unstoppable force of nature like the hurricanes that I have heard about on the news. I can go anywhere and everywhere, and I am getting stronger every day. I can now climb all the way up the stairs to the big kid rooms and I even know how to go back again. The giant people in my life help me with this, and when they can’t, there is this big gate thing that they call a “baby gate” that stands in my way of progress. I shake it and shake it, but I can’t seem to get it loose.

I can also climb up and down on the couch and on Mama and Daddy’s bed so that I can look out the windows. I love windows because the big world is out there. I have “mastered” it, so Mama says, which means that I know exactly how to do it right. I swing my leg out wide and push up– which is pretty good since the couch and bed are both close to my neck and I have to use all of my strength to get up. I can get down too by facing my legs backwards and sliding down slowly. I have to stretch and wait until my feet hit the floor. Then I am up again, and then I am back down, and back up, and back down. Mama says that it makes her tired to watch. It makes me sleepy too, and it usually leads to a nap, but it is why I am a master. I have seen those rock climbers on t.v., and I know that they had to start somewhere. Mama says that anything that you want to do is possible, but you have to practice and practice and practice to get good at it. I practiced Mama, see? I am going places, all of the places, and soon you will need to run to keep up.

If you notice, the pictures of me are blurry. That is because I am so very, very fast. Catch me if you can (but don’t catch me really… I need my “me” time right now).