Kaitlyn Learns to Walk-With Picture

Time to Hear from Kaitlyn, Real Time

On the heels of my most wise missive on stem cells and politics I must compose an update on the growth and development progress of this young lady named Kaitlyn Mae.

For she is a very real baby blossoming woman and I do enjoy being with her. Grandmother does quite enjoy watching the birds, laughing at the cats, and loving her dogs. But for sheer amazement one should spend a few hours once in awhile just watching a baby human being grow.

No other animal on the planet has to do as much growing during the first year of life as a baby human being. All baby animals have an intense growing period after birth during which they must strengthen their bones, learn their species’ survival methodology and keep on living. A human being has to learn all of this while spending much of his/her time totally helpless. For the first six months of life a human baby has to be carried everywhere by another human being. It has no control over whatever destiny awaits it wherever that grown up human might be taking it.

That second half of that first year, the baby human being has to learn several mighty important things. Things imprinted in the baby’s genes back from Neanderthal days and things that will forever separate a human being from any other form of animal life on a plant.

A human baby must learn how to talk and stand erect on only two feet.

Major stuff.

At the time of this writing in this year of our Lord, Kaitlyn Mae can say three words that anyone has been able to ascertain as actual English words. For Kaitlyn does often utter many sounds, some very strange and foreign, but all who listen agree that there are no words in her baby verbiage. There are three English words that Kaitlyn has mastered in this, her ninth month of life.

“Hi”…Kaitlyn says. At the same time, she will clench and release her little hands in that human manner of the friendly wave. I could just hug her to death when she does this. She climbs up to a window sill and sees a neighbor mowing the lawn. She stage-whispers “Hi” and waves those little hands to the man who has no idea there’s a little baby across the way madly waving hello.

Grandmother must smile, for probably 90% of the interaction Kaitlyn has had with adult humans has probably been a loud whisper of “Hi” and waves of their adult hands. Kaitlyn Mae must consider this proper socialization and how humans should greet each other. And now that you think about it, she probably has that down pat. Kaitlyn had to learn this behavior, however, and she learned it from the humans in the world around her.

Kaitlyn also says “baby” and for this she is really saying the word “baby” and not two letter B’s accidentally linked together through her baby babble. Grandmother knows this because when Kaitlyn says “baby”, which she says to refer to her own little baby doll, not her own self, she stretches out the ‘baaaaa’ part then gives a little upsqueak on the ‘be’ part of the word. Although her parents refer to her as the “baby” when Kaitlyn sees her reflection in the mirror so Kaitlyn might have some idea she is also a baby.

Finally, Kaitlyn says the word “bear”, which is used to refer to her teddy bears. For this word, she also stretches out that first syllable even though I bet you didn’t know BEAR had two syllables. Kaitlyn says “baaaa” then that little upsqueak for the ‘er’ part.
The whole process amazes Grandmother. Not so much, you’ll will forgive me sweet Kaitlyn, because my grandchild shows some grand human genius in learning to talk as every human baby has done since the beginning of time. It doesn’t matter to Grandmother just who the human baby is learning to speak, the amazement comes by how well and quickly they learn how to do it. As a reminder, consider those language classes we took in High School. In four years I didn’t learn as much French as Kaitlyn will learn in English within six months or so.

Well, I think it’s amazing.

We all learned to talk and even more amazingly, some little human babies learn to speak Arabic, Russian, even French, by the time they are two years old.

And if Grandmother still isn’t intrigued enough by this mind-boggling language skill, the struggle to become upright ranks up there with other amazing baby human feats. To stand upright, as some cave man did one day many years ago; a cave man born through some unique gene combination with an especially flexible spine not normally in his species of the era. That man stood upright and began to move about on only two feet. No other animal on earth stands upright like the human being in all aspects of its life.

Eventually the humans with the spines not able to handle that upright position were wiped out by those evolved enough to be nimble for attack and takeover of prime caves.

Well, it could have happened that way.

However it came about, standing upright is all handled when a human baby is about a year old and it’s a pretty amazing thing to watch in and of itself.

After only nine months on the earth Kaitlyn can now stand up without immediately falling down. She looks like a little drunk baby as she tries to remain upright even as she wobbles round and round as if her juice cup had been full of wine. I watch her little baby self and wonder what is it that prevents her from standing upright with ease. Something, Grandmother figures, isn’t quite developed enough to allow Kaitlyn a sturdy stand. Much less the ability to move her feet in some coordinated fashion that would allow her locomotion.

In a desperate attempt to remain upright, a position that Kaitlyn would most enjoy in that it seems to Grandmother that Kaitlyn Mae would very much like to move all about on two feet much as her parents and most other humans in her life, Kaitlyn will clench her toes as if grabbing the earth itself for steadiness. She will even stand on her tiptoes as if this must be how they do it. Or so thinks Kaitlyn as Grandmother surmises.

Eventually she falls down on her butt and it almost seems as if she shrugs and locomotes all about using four limbs. Kaitlyn will try again later, Grandmother knows.

From her limited research, Grandmother has noted that human babies generally walk about on two legs from around a year to a year and a half. Kaitlyn is a tad young to be attempting same but by Grandmother, sweet Granddaughter has always been but a baby woman ready to go someplace. When time came to crawl all about Kaitlyn rolled over and began crawling with a vengeance.

Kaitlyn understands kisses and loves to be tossed all about as if she were but a baby ball. She giggles when her father tosses her in the air and catches her. She loves her mom to bounce her all about on the bed. Grandmother wonders why those actions, which should seem so scary to what has to be a helpless Kaitlyn falling through the air to the floor unless her father, as he always has, catches her, cause Kaitlyn so much joy. Indeed Grandmother herself will hold baby Kaitlyn high in the air and spin her around as if she were a baby butterfly and still Kaitlyn laughs.

Perhaps in the next REAL Kaitlyn missive she will already be walking all about, a fine baby example of her species. She will be bright-eyed and bushy tailed as she always is, waving Hi to everyone in the surround and discovering a wonderful world unappreciated by jaded adults.

Here’s hoping.