Someone has stolen my child and given me a monkey in her place

Right now Brooklyn is at my least favorite “kid age”. Now, I’m sure this least favorite age will change once my children hit the preteens – or (shudder) the teenage years. But for now, I am very confident in saying that I’m not real fond of 13 month olds. Wyatt went through it too, now it’s Brooke’s turn. She is IN TO EVERYTHING.  It seems her main mission in life is to empty all of my cupboards and drawers onto the floor, them once everything is put back, we do it all over again.  When I try to tell her, “No no Brooklyn!” she just looks at me and screams a bloodcurdling scream that makes my hairs stand on end and makes me feel like someone is jabbing an ice pick through my temples.  I tried screaming back at her the other day, thinking this would show her just how loud and annoying the screaming is. Like she would instantly stop screaming, look at me and think Wow! That screaming is annoying and cruel to all others around me.. I’ll never do it again! No, my screaming brought on a fit of tears and more screaming.  Experiment failed.  So, now I just try to turn the other way and not let her see that the screaming bothers me.  Little does she know, it is taking all my self control from jumping into my car and driving away. DRIVING AWAY FAST.

In addition to the screaming, which I’m quite sure I’ll never get used to, Brooklyn has also decided that she wants to become a mountain climber. And of course, to become a mountain climber, one must practice whenever possible.  Why not start young?  The other day I was walking by the bathroom and here is what I saw…..

I almost freaked out and grabbed her, but then I thought I should get my camera instead.  She’s not even walking yet, but is able to go up and down stairs in the blink of an eye, climb into the bathtub, and now – scale the toilets.  Of course, the entire purpose of climbing this particular toilet was to take all of Wyatt’s things off the countertop and throw them onto the ground. Because this is what she does.

I guess I shouldn’t say she’s “not walking yet” because she is walking, just now on her own.  As long as she is holding one finger or corner of a table she moves along just great.  She can walk while pushing a musical cart faster than anyone I’ve seen to date. As long as the cart doesn’t get stuck on a rug or a doorway (this brings about screaming episodes=ice pick into temples) she is happy as a clam.  A couple of times now she has forgotten about her fear of the unknown (walking alone) and has let go of the table corner or chair, and just stood there. As soon as she realizes what has happened, PLOP! Onto the butt.

At 13 months she has mastered just 3 words. Daddy, puppy and baby.  And she repeats them continuously all day long.  Why can’t they say Mommy a little earlier?  It might make the screaming more tolerable. Maybe.  I go in to her room in the morning to get her up for daycare, she smiles that big toothy grin at me and says Daddy!  Then I say, No – I’m Mommy!  She smiles even bigger and calls me Daddy again.  I’m starting to feel like she might be doing it just to mess with me.

***Side note – did you notice the rings in the picture? Apparently I did NOT learn my lesson….

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