MARK MY WORD: WALKING IS CHALLENGE FOR CHILD, PARENTS TOO

Bailey is growing up.

Our youngest daughter, who is going on 10 months now, is almost to the I-can-do-it-myself walking stage.

She already can walk in Frankenstein-stilted fashion across the living room, clinging to her toy grocery cart.

Joni and I looked forward to seeing our first child, Becca, reach these early rungs on the ladder of life.

But with the second, we know better.

Actually, we are proud of Bailey's accomplishments, just as we are Becca's.

But this time around we also know the pitfalls.

Bailey already can crawl at super speeds, but soon she will be getting around even faster on two feet.

A mobile child brings its own set of problems.

Bailey is at the stage where no drawer is safe from being opened unless it is padlocked and constantly guarded.

It is harder to keep everything locked up when you have a 4-year-old in the house too.

But I never knew my sock drawer would be so entertaining. Bailey regularly opens the lower drawer when I am not looking and throws pair after pair of socks on the bedroom floor.

Perhaps I should just leave all my socks on the floor. But then Bailey would have to find some other drawer to open.

She regularly reaches for video tapes and my shoes. She likes to eat the shoelaces.

Bailey has acquired two upper teeth to go along with her two lower ones. This means she can gnaw on the laces.

When it comes to chicken fingers, she really gets her teeth into it. She loves French fries too.

She regularly refuses to eat the mush that passes for baby food. She has discovered real food is a whole lot better than that infant stuff.

Bailey has also discovered she can talk. She quite clearly says "hi."

It's both a welcome and a goodbye to her.

Joni recently bought white, baby shoes for Bailey. They even have the outline of a baby foot on the bottom of the shoes.

This is one article of clothing that babies could do without. It's not like she is ready to run around on the playground yet.

Like most kids, Bailey would prefer to go barefoot or crawl around in the soft comfort of socks.

I'm just not quite ready for shoes. I like those baby feet.

Childhood has a way of rushing by while parents are stuck in traffic.

Now, Joni tells me that Bailey will soon have to get her first haircut.

I'm not ready for that either.

I am ready, however, for Bailey to sleep through the night. She hasn't learned how to do this yet.

But as long as she is moving up the growing-up ladder, she might as well reach that step too, with or without shoes.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.