Flying

When we first saw our house, there were several major factors that made me want it - a large yard and a kitchen I didn't hate, for instance. I could very easily explain why I wanted those, although in retrospect my ideas about the benefits of a large yard might, just might, have been based on wildly optimistic assumptions.

There were some other things I liked, but couldn't easily explain. For example, the living room has 2 doorways, so that it's possible to walk from the living room to the kitchen to the dining room to the hallway and into the living room again, counterclockwise. I knew I liked this feature, but wasn't exactly sure what practical benefits it might offer.

Recently we've found one.

Annika learned about the game of "flying" - being held horizontally, arms outstretched Superman-style, with me running her around the house this way. It's especially fun to chase something, be it a cat or Daddy. Much better to run circles around downstairs than to be confined to one room at a time!

Now if only I was willing and able to "fwy" her as much as she wanted... alas, mama gets tired after a couple of rounds of this. Then there are many requests of "fwy? fwy? mama! fwy! mamamama!" and usually it all ends in tears. But only a little bit of tears, then she's distracted by something shiny.

That, I think, pretty much sums up the joy and pain of life with a toddler. Within the span of 15 minutes, you get a nice little tour of human emotion starting at baseline mood, onward to ecstatic giggling, to frustrated foot-stomping, to tears of bitter anguish, and back to baseline.