Rarities and Oddities - Part Une

There is a funky side to little Abigail. She is full of initiatives, which in and of itself is nothing rare. However, Abbie has a way to make every little discovery her own. She will apply her playful personality to all endeavors.

For example: she has created a new motion style. She crawls - on her knees. No hands. Just knees. She scoots along on her knees as if perpetually on a mobile praying spree. Sometimes, her hands are clasped together, which is what gave me the "praying" imagery to begin with. Sometimes she will clap. Occasionally, she will have an index finger in her mouth. But, regardless, she rolls like freight train on those two knees.

Another thing we have noticed is her dancing. The fact that Abigail *does not* need music to dance is endearing to us: we figure she is literally marching to her own drum. But seriously, she loves to dance! And she does it well, too. Generally, she doesn't like to put on a show for strangers, but for mom and dad, she'll groove. She could be totally absorbed by her dolls or her stuffed animals or her cubes, and if there is music, she'll absentmindedly bust a move. We laugh quietly as her little butt moves to an fro, rhythmically, to the beat. If crawling the "normal" way, her butt will shake from side to side, like that of cat's getting ready to jump. I have been following her with a camera trying to immortalize the moment, unsuccessfully. When nothing else is distracting her, she'll dance with all of herself: her arms, hands, legs, head, butt - everything bobbing together as she laughs away. Here are a few clips that we were able to film, but she was aware that there was a camera... so she acted rather demure.

Another oddity: push buttons! Those are Abigail's favorite thing as of late. In the previous post you see Abbie pushing the mirror's button over and over and over again... well, she has an uncanny ability to recognize a button in just about any gadget. Let's not even mention phones, remotes and laptops: those are obsolete by now, although still holding some degree of appeal. I am talking fans, microwaves, clocks, car beepers, what have you. She will zoom in on that button, and press it! Fans turn on, microwaves beep, clock alarms go off in the middle of the night, cars unlock lock unlock lock unlock lock... She also loves to redial the last number on our home phone. And then she puts the call on speaker. All by herself. Luckily, when she has done that, it has been mostly her dad. But if you get a weird call from us, nothing but muffled giggles and squeals, don't hang up: it's Abbie.

Abigail, mind you, has a wild streak. She doesn't like her "baby." This poor doll I got her some time ago is taking so much abuse I am thinking about hiding it away. Abbie has a little stroller that we got for her "baby." We put the "baby" in the stroller, and Abigail will push it around for a walk, or at least, that's the idea. Seven times out of ten, Abigail yanks the "baby" off the stroller, throws it on the floor, and runs it over with the stroller. She'll attempt to run it over several times. Or, a variation, after dumping it on the floor she'll jump on it and bite it on the forehead. If the "baby" is on her swing, she'll do the same thing: yank it off, floor, bite. During the course of the day, after the "baby" has already suffered abuse and is lying abandoned on the floor, she might go back to it and bite it again for good measure. She grabs its head with both hands, looks at it square in the face, opens her mouth wide and slowly, deliberately, chomps down on the forehead.

Ahhh... Abbie, Abbie!

There will more oddities to come, the list is long, and the time is short. I smile as I think of all the weird things that make my Abbie so very mine.