Riley's Mommy Walks Funny

I remember doing research for a play I was in and being struck by descriptions of children playing in the concentration camps. It seemed so strange for children to play in such surroundings, but more than that it was what they played that struck me. They played concentration camp, dividing up into Nazi soldiers and prisoners. Like kids used to divide up into cops and robbers.

I guess when I think about it, I played teacher and doctor most often as a kid because that's who I was around most. When you're a kid your world is small and that's ok. You don't compare yourself to the world at large when you're a kid. Normal has no meaning. You are who you are.

Take Riley, her Mommy carried her in a carrier on her chest for almost 9mo because of her balance issues. When Riley started crawling her Mommy put the Superyard around the couch so she could play and Mommy could escape gate-style (can't do step over). Riley liked to pull herself to standing on Mommy's walker, if she wasn't using it as a tent or pushing it across the floor.

In more recent times Riley takes any long straight object, especially Mommy's grabber, and walks with it as if it's a cane. Odd for another baby, maybe, but that's what Riley sees. Riley's been pushed in strollers and pulled in wagons like the other babies. She's walked holding Mommy's hand.

Sometimes she walks wearing her backpack so Mommy can keep a hold of her (and keep up with her).

It's because Riley's Mommy walks funny. Sometimes Riley's Mommy puts her on her lap in the wheelchair when they go places.

So it's no surprise that today Riley climbed into Mommy's wheelchair with her baby doll and tried to wheel around with the baby in her lap.

"Ok, baby here we go."

It turns out wheeling around while hanging on to a baby is pretty tricky (no surprise to Riley's Mommy). She tried wheeling one handed and ended up spinning in a circle like a broken bumper car. Then she sat the baby next to her and tried to get her to lend a hand. She put the baby's hand on the wheel and tried to show her what to do. It was really funny. I guess all mommies adapt. Too bad her baby didn't pick up the slack.