Ready, set, climb!

Its so funny to have a baby walking around the house again.  Belly out, waddling around.  Not as much arm flapping going on these days; I think its hard to keep your balance while you walk and flap your arms. 

And she's doing more than waddling around.  She's climbing.  For such a novice walker, she reached the next motor movement milestone (now that's some good alliteration!) rather quickly. 

She climbs onto the ottoman.  She climbs onto Brother's little chairs.  She uses those chairs to then climb onto the rocking chair.  And Brother's bed.  Don't leave her unattended in Andy's room; you'll come back to find her perched on his bed.  With a look on her face that speaks of how proud she is of herself.  And totally unaware of the imminent danger she has put herself in. 

She climbs onto Dada's step-stool.  You may recall that Andy likes to use this step-stool when he helps Mama in the kitchen.  Elizabeth, evidently, doesn't like to be left out.  But using both steps is for sissies; she goes from the ground to the second step.  Sense the enthusiasm from Mama on this one.

She climbs onto Andy's stools in the bathroom and Sam's food bin in the pantry.  Which gives her good access to the canned goods.  I probably don't need to expound on this one.

Her problem is that she can't figure out how to get down.  You can see where this goes.

I will also use this as my excuse to not have any accompanying pics for this post; I use my photo opp time to keep her from toppling off a bed, the kitchen counter ...

Walking has also enabled her to get into way more trouble than just climbing.  Finding her way into the bathroom to unroll the TP or, joy of joys, play in the toliet.  (for the record, this rarely happens.  The door and lid are almost always closed and/or shut.  But on those rare occassions where the two align, she's there.  She finds the solar eclipse-like window of opportunity and there she is; splashing in the toliet).  She likes to roam the house, looking for a stray piece of dog food or Cheerio.  Or piece of paper that she can chew on.  Yes, like a goat.  She stands on tip-toe to see if there are any morsels left in her highchair.  She pulls every object out of the pantry/cupboards/closet and strews them about.  Right now the kitchen floor is in a post-tornado state; two lunch boxes, one blankie, some scrap (soggy) paper, a baby shoe, toothbrush, dog toys and a few kitchen utensils.  Some (unused) garbage bags and the usual assortment of tupperware lids complete this vignette. 
And that's just to my right.  To my left is another sight. 

But I know how quickly these days will slip through my fingers.  I know how quickly she'll lose that baby waddle for sure footedness.  Steps that will take her out of the safety of our home and out into this world.  So this phase, like all before and all to come, is bittersweet for her Mama.  Exhausting to keep up with her, heart-warming to watch her, but still bittersweet.