roly poly girl

the title of this post could be in reference to ava's abundance of rolls, (so many rolls and oh, are they ever delicious!) or it could be in reference to the bug of the same name which, when flipped over onto its back, looks quite funny for awhile as its legs flail about until it finally rights itself and goes on its merry way. however, the sort of roly poly i am referring to in this post is the no-big-deal typical type of rolling that most babies generally do as their first means of becoming mobile. except that for us, ava's rolling is a huge deal because neither of the boys ever rolled much, and if they did it was only by accident. ava's rolling is done very much on purpose. in fact, it seems that she believes that her only purpose in life is to roll because she does it ALL THE TIME. if ever she is put onto her back, quick as a wink she has rolled onto her tummy, much to the boys' constant delight and applause. this means that she feels the need to attempt rolling while she is nursing (which doesn't work out all that well), while having her diaper changed, and also while she is sleeping. the only problem with this new rolling business is that she doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy, but she hasn't quite figured out how to roll onto her back again, so she gets a bit stuck. if i'm in the room, i am constantly rolling her onto her back so she can again repeat her favorite skill over and over and over again. if i'm not in the room, the boys get all excited that she has rolled, and then they sort of forget about her as she grows more and more agitated, flailing her arms and legs much like the roly poly bugs do except she does it while on her tummy instead of on her back. so finally mommy comes to her rescue and flips her onto her back where she enjoys about 3 seconds of relief before, woops! there she goes back onto her tummy and begins getting frustrated all over again. (i've started to wonder if she may be showing early signs of OCD and is compulsively rolling over without really wanting to, but feeling the need to do it nonetheless.)

now, it seems that i should be feeling a sense of sadness that ava is already growing up a bit and becoming mobile, rolling off to become a dependant young woman and oh, how the past 4 months have flown! except that's not at all how i feel. i feel as if the past 4 months have been the longest 4 months of my entire life. it has felt more like 4 years since i have given birth to my daughter and i am thrilled that she is finally beginning to discover a world outside of my arms. i don't think that makes me a bad mommy; i just think that it makes me a tired mommy of 3 young children, a mommy who is ready for my baby to grow up.

(. . . . but only if she grows up just a little bit.)