She's a girl that gets what she wants

Having two children always gives such a fascinating perspective as parents.  We are daily amazed at how DIFFERENT Josiah and Abigail are--besides just the obvious boy/girl differences.  In fact, we often find ourselves shaking our heads in wonder saying, "wow, Josiah never did this...." or "Josiah wasn't this.....".  Not that we are purposely trying to compare our children to some imaginary standard or compare them against one another. Not at all. In fact, I think if truth be told, Bryan and I often find ourselves wondering what exactly we've gotten ourselves into, but in a good way, mind you.  We truly believe children are a blessing from the Lord--it's just sometimes that blessing comes with some sweat and tears from the dear parents!

Case in point.  Abigail is fast. She RARELY sits still.  Both of our kids were early walkers, but Abigail seems to have a little extra "ummphh" to her.  And quite frankly this scares us!  You see, Josiah already is quite intense.  Though Josiah has a strong sense of justice and is motivated by "right & wrong" (which can make it easy, at times, to parent him), he is physically strong, physically active, emotionally volatile, and verbally alive (that is my euphemism for the kid just won't stop talking!). So we can't but help compare what Abigail does now through our lens of how Josiah has grown.

Take today, for instance.  Abigail already gets into way more than Josiah every did at this age (Abby is 11 months).  She also started crawling before Josiah and climbed the stairs before he did.  Josiah, though he mastered physical developments early, was still a very cautious kid.  Abigail seeems (at least for now) to throw caution to the wind.  When she sees something out of reach, she figures out how to make it within reach.  (if you'll remember, her pseudonym is Elastigirl).  She uses any means possible to reach items that are not suitable for children under the age of 3 (let alone under the age of 1), and she often succeeds. 

This is Abigail reaching for something on our TV stand.  These picture don't do it justice.  Abigail is notorious for adding inches to her height by standing on the tips of her tippytoes.  Is she taller than our TV stand?  NO!  Can she even see what is on our TV stand?  NO.

And here is another climbing adventure.  Abigail, not wanting to miss out on the full experience of piano playing, figured out how to climb onto our blanket basket.  Yes, that basket is about a foot tall. Does she even need this basket to reach the keys?  No.  She can reach them just fine by stretching her arms--though she wouldn't be able to actually see what she was doing.  And so, she figured out how to make herself taller.  And here's a video to witness it yourself.  No fear.  No concern about how to get down.  No fear of falling.  None. (Thankfully she had Mommy and Daddy within reach!)