When does babyhood end and toddlerhood begin? It’s a question I find myself asking a lot lately as our daughter defiantly dumps her yogurt on the floor, issues a declarative chorus of “no, no, no,” and attempts to open the door to make a break for her sandbox. The markers of babyhood are still all over the place: highchair, stroller, bib, crib. But I notice in our daughter a slight narrowing of face. Her mouth is full of sharp new teeth (ouch!) and fun new words (“neigh!”) A couple weeks ago, she was afraid of the plastic slide in our yard; now, she wobbles towards it and scales the ladder by herself, her face full of glee as she whooshes down. Sometimes, when she plays with her friends, she forgets that I’m there.
Parenting, I’m learning, is to witness and steward this constant becoming; each phase of growth revealing something new about who your kid is and who they might later be. Our baby can walk. She has pulled the clothes out of her drawer and emptied the kitchen cabinets. Toddlerhood, I’d say, is upon us.
– Sarah Harris is a writer in Orwell.