November 15th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
(Damien, Damien Walk, NaBloPoMo, New, Sergey, Walk)
21. Heel Walk
Damien will walk around allowing only his heel to touch the ground.
His feet are pointed up, with his toes almost curling backwards, as if his feet had been stuck in crazy elf shoes too long. I think he likes this for its basic un-stability which he uses to his advantage to “accidentally†bump into or step on Sergey. Don’t worry Sergey gets back at him by waling up to Damien when his diaper is being changed, and repeatedly smacking him in the head and face with the palm of his little hand, Sergey will do this until I pull him off Damien. I think Damien puts up with it because he knows he has it coming, and it doesn’t seem to hurt him as much as annoy him.
22. Three Steps Forward Two Steps Back Walk / Run
One morning when he awoke even more full of energy than normal {which is quite a lot if you know his regular amount of energy}. Damien wanted to run down the hallway to the stairs, he wanted to go as fast as he could move, but he also wanted to enjoy the moment as long as possible. The Damien solution, run forward four steps really really fast, then run backwards three steps really really fast {I know the MS Word editor doesn’t like me using the word “really†twice in a row, but in this case it is appropriate}.
Even though Damien was going really really fast, Sergey walked right past him on his way to the stairs, this didn’t phase Damien, because it wasn’t the destination that Damien cared about, it was the journey {and going really really fast}.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
(Damien, Sergey, Walk)
Going down the stairs is a very methodical and cognitive process for Sergey. He first checks that he hasn’t stepped over the edge, or how much room does he have before falling over the edge.
Then he checks behind himself for some reason (maybe he is worried the stairs or Damien might sneak up on him.)
Then he checks to see if he can use his cuteness to make an adult pick him up and carry him. I used to fall for this all the time, but then Damien would not only use cuteness but also guilt and pity, then I would end up carrying both of them down the stairs.
If the cuteness fails, then Sergey will sit down and turn around rolling onto his belly facing away from the stairs. Occasionally he will over estimate and have to crawl backwards for a foot or so before reaching the stairs. Damien still holds the record for sitting down to early he once had to crawl backwards over 5 feet to reach the stairs because he started in the middle of the hallway.
Teaching Sergey to sit and turn around at the top of the stairs took about 3 to 4 days, 2 – times a day.
Sergey will put his feet on the lower step, and go to his knees, then slide his butt back. Repeat until done. This was harder to train, about a week or more 2-3 times a day. One of the hard parts to teach is to not turn himself over when he is looking down the stairs. Now Sergey is good enough that he can turn himself around and sit on the step to take a break, or he will just look over his shoulder without turning his body. This is also useful when he wants to play with the railing.
When Sergey gets to the last step he turns himself so he is sitting on the last step then just stands up and walks off, rather than crawling onto the floor.
Damien crawls down when Sergey it there (too compete with Sergey?) or jumps down one step at a time. If Sergey is not there Damien will walk town sometimes while reading a book, or with his arms so loaded with toys and blankets that he can’t see where he is going.
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May 14th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
(Damien, Duct Tape, New, Walk)
Sergey did some walking today while I was holding his hands.
He couldn’t walk on his own, but he was stepping forward on his own, rather than relying on me to do all the work.
Tonight we may go for a walk when I get home. Maybe even try out the tricycle with Damien?
Olya, is not sure if Damien will cooperate on the tricycle front.
But as I like to say, there is no problem that a little duct tape can’t fix.
Ten pieces of duct tape should do the trick.
A. Tape his feet to the pedals so they don’t slip off. (two pieces, one for each foot.)
B. Tape his hands to the handle bar, so he doesn’t try to escape. (two pieces, one for each hand.)
C. Tape his mouth shut so we don’t have to listen to him scream. (six pieces, he screams loud, and I want to enjoy the walk.)
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March 27th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
(Damien, Damien Walk, Walk)
16. Backwards Walk
Damien will often come to a sudden stop, then reverse his walking direction without changing his orientation. This occurs most often when he is pretending to go along with your wishes, only to try a sneaky escape at the last minute.
Example: I am walking Damien down the hall to the stairs so I can get him to the kitchen to feed him breakfast. Now it’s his idea to have breakfast, he was the one saying things like “breakfast” and “cereal”, and he knows these things happen in the kitchen, which is down stiars. But upon shuffeling up to the top of the stairs, he cries out “NO!”, then reverses his shuffel and speeds past me in a hasty retreat. apparently he simply wanted to teleport to the kitchen, or possibly phase through the floor and float into the kitchen, either way he was very against stairs for some reason. maybe it was because he did not have an alternate mode of going down the stairs.
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March 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
(Bed Time, Walk)
It was such a nice night last night (too many nights, maybe I should call it a nights tale) that we took the boys for a second walk around 8:30. The warm breeze was very relaxing and the boys were both looking at the moon. Haflway through our first loop, Olya noticed Damien squirming trying to get comfortable, so I lowered the seat back to he could snooze off to slumber land. Good thing we preped the boys for bed before the walk, so we could just lay them in bed when we got home.
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March 26th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
(Damien, Damien Walk, Update, Walk)
Damien can walk as well as run, but that is NOT enough for him.
Normal walking is not good enough, for him so he has gone to the trouble of makeing up alternate modes of bipedial transportation.
Let me try to list the ways, though this post will need to be updated as he is still in the creative process.
1. Normal Walk
Walk like a normal person, this is probably the way you walk, and the way most people would wakl in every day life if they had a choice. For Damien this is an alternate form of walking it is rare to se him actually walk, there have been whole weeks in which I never once noticed Damien using the Normal Walk to get about.
2. Sumo Walk
Damien will stand with his legs as wide as posible and while still able to keep the soles of his feet on the floor, with his legs bowed in a rough semi circle. Damien will then walk by raising his foot but maintaining the arch of his legs, essentially his whole body is pivoting on his ankle. He will then hold hi foot briefly in the air as if deciding where it shall come crashing down. Finally he falls onto the foot with his full weight, creating a very satifying (to him anyway) WHAM!
As with most of Damiens walks this is followed by much giggiling and smiling.
more later.
3. Shuffle Walk
4. Pitter Patter Walk
5. Splits Walk
6. Sea Saw (back and forth) Walk
7. Ice Skate Walk
8. Serpentine Walk
9 Hulk Smash Walk
10. Kick/Slip Forward Walk
11. Kick/Slip Sideways Walk
12. Skip Walk
13. Single Peg Leg Walk
14. Double Peg Leg Walk
15. Drag the Foot Walk
16. Backwards Walk
Damien will often come to a sudden stop, then reverse his walking direction without changing his orientation. This occurs most often when he is pretending to go along with your wishes, only to try a sneaky escape at the last minute.
Example: I am walking Damien down the hall to the stairs so I can get him to the kitchen to feed him breakfast. Now it’s his idea to have breakfast, he was the one saying things like “breakfast” and “cereal”, and he knows these things happen in the kitchen, which is down stiars. But upon shuffeling up to the top of the stairs, he cries out “NO!”, then reverses his shuffel and speeds past me in a hasty retreat. apparently he simply wanted to teleport to the kitchen, or possibly phase through the floor and float into the kitchen, either way he was very against stairs for some reason. maybe it was because he did not have an alternate mode of going down the stairs.
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