4/28/09

Toe-biting

I know - that's a funny header. Toe-biting?
Well, it started with "toes to nose".
When we first took Q to our pediatrician, shortly after she came home, he told us that she was extremely hyper-flexible. All of her joints swiveled easily in every direction, even directions that joints are not normally meant to swivel. He told us that kids with this kind of hyper-flexibility often learned to walk later than other kids, even without institutional delays. They needed time to build up a great deal of muscle tone to make up for their rubbery joints. And, in fact, she did walk late.
Her hyper-flexibility is now a source of hilarity for all of us. During diaper changes, she would raise her feet and touch her toes to her nose. Then she'd touch them to the top of her head. Then, she'd take the back of her foot and, casually as you please, rub her eyes with it.
Once, she actually put her toes in her mouth and chewed on them, which made me crack up laughing. Since she got such a good response, she's built on that skill. Nowadays, she likes to do it in her stroller, just to get a laugh out of me.
This is how it goes: as soon as she starts playing with her feet, I say: "You're not going to bite your toes, are you? Are you going to bite your toes? Who bites their toes? No-one does. That's who."
At this point, she knows I want her to bite her toes for me. So she fakes it a little...opens her mouth, pulls her toes up close...
...and then puts her feet down again. "Nope! Not gonna do it, Mommy."
As soon as she's successfully faked me out, she dissolves into a fit of hysterical laughter. Hah! I pulled one over on Mommy. Not gonna do it. You can't make me!
Ah-hahahahahah!!!!! (Evil laughter)
OK, well...maybe I'll think about it. I just MIGHT bite my toes...
Nope! Changed my mind again.
(Hysterical giggling escalates in pitch)
"Oh-hoh! Oooh-hooh. Oh, man, that's a good joke! You really thought I was gonna do it, didn't you?"
And then, because she just can't resist, she bites her toes.
Much laughter and clapping and hilarity on Mommy's part.
Then she gets bored of the game, and thinks about Daddy. I love how her signs have become a part of her thought process. She can't think about Daddy without automatically signing "daddy". so I always know when she's thinking about him.
I told her Daddy was at work, but he might be home for dinner by the time we got there.
"Yaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy DADDY!!!!"

10 comments:

monica said...

Really funny! Thanks for making me chuckle after a tough few days. Monica

A Beautiful Mess said...

that was a great post!! Made me giggle:)

Love that QQ smile!

Mamacita said...

That was a super cute series of pictures! Lina was hyper-flexible like that. Now she's 'normal.' Its too bad she didn't love gymnastics!

sarahthefantastic said...

More signing pictures! That was so cute. The first time YY signed Grandpa I was so excited because it was the first glimpse into her thoughts and was totally unconnected to what was happening around her. Magic! QQ might stay that flexible. YY is walking and running and doing everything well and is still a rubber band. : )

Yoli said...

Oh I think I see future ballet classes!!! Black leotard, pink tights, black leg warmers! So, so cute!!!

kitchu said...

what a HAM. want to eat her toes myself, so cute this one.

you know i saw this whole program on discovery health about ballerinas. talked about how some people will never be successful because if you are not genetically flexible you just cannot achieve the ability to do the right moves.

not that you should ever push her in that direction, but if she ever shows interest, she obviously will have NO trouble getting into the right positions! it was really fascinating.

Maia said...

It's funny that everyone's seeing a ballerina in these pictures.
I see a stuntman. But you'd have to know her. That's her style. The kid is cojones to the wall (forgive my language) and torpedoes be damned (to mix my metaphors hopelessly). No graceful flower, she.

Ballet? She'd have to want it, bad. And then of course we'd let her. But ballet is a world inside a glass bubble. I knew a couple of ballet dancers (the real deal, ABT and all) when I was growing up. There is no life outside of the ballet. You have to literally love it more than life. Personally, while I find the world of ballet terribly romantic, and attractive in its physical excellence, I would hate to miss out on all those years of LIFE, you know?

I tell you what, though, the kid does yoga moves in her crib constantly - rather elaborate ones. She needs a gymnastics class at the very least - and we're going to give her one as soon as we can juggle our schedules a bit.

Jen F said...

I love the 'evil laughter' shot...so great!

Virginia said...

Yep, I'd say gymnastics if she's more the daredevil type. Great post and pictures. I can almost hear the giggles!

Gin =)

sarahthefantastic said...

I think you can find yoga cards for children online. YY's class has some as an activity they can choose, with a little mat. It's so neat to see them on take a card, do the pose, then take another card.
I'm with you on the ballet thing. There are lots of other dancing lessons she could try if she likes. We go to a wonderful one called "Dance me a Story". Very creative and individual and lovely.