Oh baby, she's wreaking havoc

Alysse is a crawler. She started to really get mobile at the end of last week. And while her technique can still use some perfection, she's able to get the job done and she's now on the move.

I think the greatest motivating factor in her newly achieved mobility was crashing Alena and Alivia's party. No longer can her older sisters sit working on their jigsaw puzzles on the floor without a visit from Alysse. She manages to drop by every coloring session, reading circle or game her big sisters begin. And within minutes she's got them squealing.

"No, Lysse, get off my (fill in the blank here)," Alena cries out.

"Get off me (fill in this blank too), Lysse," Alivia squawks.

The most amusing aspect of this new drama in our lives is that neither Alena nor Alivia realize how mobile she's become and how quick she is.

Friday, as the older girls sat side-by-side playing ABC games on their toy computers, Alysse decided to check out what they were up to. As she took her first grab at the mouse on Alena's computer, she had them both on the move.

"Let's move away from her," Alena said to Alivia.

So, about six feet away the two quickly scooted. Just as they resumed their computer playing, there was that little hand again, reaching out to join in the fun. They can no longer make a break for it and "save" themselves and their toys from Alysse's curiosity. She FOLLOWS them. It becomes a game of cat and mouse. And they don't like it.

I try to explain to them that she just wants to see what they are doing so she can learn to do big girl things too. They just look at me like, "Yeah, mom, whatever. We just want her to leave us alone."

Their reaction, really, is to be expected given their ages and Alysse's innocent brute force. Alena and Alivia, while learning to share, take turns and co-exist peacefully, still have "their" things that they want to keep to themselves.

Everyone knows, for example, that Alena's doll stroller is Alena's and off limits to anyone else. Alivia has her own, so Alena really needn't share it, and therefore lays claim to it without sharing and without question.

Alysse, however, heads to it, ready to dig through the merchandise stashed in the small basket area underneath. And can you blame her? It's full of colorful, shiny, smaller objects that she can easily manipulate and get her mouth around. It's a baby's dream come true, well, it would be if it weren't interrupted by big sister's yells of protest.

We're trying to make peace and find a way for "the big girls" to accept the ways of "the little people," as Alena calls them. We're learning that if there's something you don't want Miss Alysse to get a hold of, you must put it away, up off the floor, to keep it safe.

And for all the annoyed looks they shoot her when she's on the prowl and yelps for help when she's got a hold of something they want her hands off of, it's a race between big sister one (Alena) and big sister two (Alivia) to get to Alysse first when she's upset or in need of entertaining.