Determination

Well, my daughter is a one-handed-wonder!  Enjoy a few random tales.

When we were in province in China, L tried to get a toddler puff snack out of a bag about the size of an individual sized bag of Goldfish crackers.  She went to use her little hand and my guide immediately told her [in Chinese] not to use that hand but to use her full hand.  She pulled L's little hand away and put her full hand inside the bag of snacks.  L wasn't even my daughter for a week yet and the mama bear in me wanted to snap at my guide and tell her, "Let her figure it out on her own.  She can do it.  She'll find a way."  I kept my mouth shut out though.

Later in Guangzhou, my new guide there noticed L's hand as she was playing with a travel sized pouch of Kleenex (L loved things that crinkled and made sounds).  My guide said in a very sad voice, "Oh, that little hand doesn't work so well, does it?"  I wanted to say, "It works very well, thank you kindly."

When my mom visited us this summer, we watched L play with one of those Oriental Trading kids bracelets with the plastic clasp - the kind where one side of the clasp slides into the other side and clicks shut.  L tried and tried and tried to get the clasp together.  She sat way longer than any 2-handed 2 year old would with such a task.  She didn't get frustrated, she didn't get upset.  She was just determined to do it on her own.

In the new house while she was exploring new toys that came from our home in Nebraska, she somehow managed to get the battery compartment of a toy completely dismantled.  This would typically require the use of a small screwdriver.  I have no idea how she did it!  She just walked over to me with the battery compartment and 3 AA batteries, showing me what she had done.

And then on Thanksgiving, we were driving up to my mother-in-law's condo for a holiday dinner and I looked back at L in her carseat and I was horrified to see she had figured out how to get our of her 5-point car seatbelt harness.  Jay was driving, so at a red light I jumped back and re-buckled her and scolded her, "Danger!  Danger!"  for taking off her belt while the car was in motion.  Turns out that she pushes the chest clip down with "2 hands" and then wiggles her arms out of the shoulder straps.  The buckle is still clipped by her belly button.  I've caught her in the act of this since then and tightening the straps does not deter her in the slightest.

Her little hand doesn't slow her down in the slightest!  For Christmas Santa brought her a stuffed Nemo toy (thanks Lucky Fin friends for posting that on Facebook) that says, "I may have a little fin, but I swim just fine!"

Yes you do, sweet girl.  Yes you do!

And now, instead of getting a chuckle out of my daughter and her daily antics, let's turn the tables.  This time you get to laugh at ME!  I was trimming my kids' nails the other day, boys first and L last.  When it was L's turn, I did both sets of toes and the fingernails on her left hand.  Then I said to her, "Ok, let me see your other hand."  She gave me a funny little look and showed me her right hand.  I immediately laughed at myself for completely forgetting that she doesn't have a right hand and thus had no nails to trim on that hand!  DUH, mommy!!!

Thought you'd enjoy that one.  :)

I wonder what tales we'll have to tell in the future.  I'll be certain to continue posting as we have more to share.