lessons in parenthood

so VL tumbled out of the bed the other day. it wasn't a big deal. we have a low platform bed and a rug. i really gotta learn to heed my intuition though cuz the thought crossed my mind and i dismissed it. she cried for all of a minute and then it was back to lots and lots of active playing & smiling when she should have been sleepy. i gave her a dose of rescue remedy not that she needed it and took a big dose myself to calm me down. no scratches or bruises. so i took her to her chiropractor for an adjustment the next afternoon and other then her ribs being slightly subluxated (which is chiro for tweaked) she was fine. i figured weo, now she's learned about edges and that will be the only time, right? wrong. she's been going for the edge kamikaze and intent on going over. i even held onto one calf to see how far she would take it. she made it over our gramma-made bootleg co-sleeper barrier (clearly its not a barrier), get her hands on the bedframe but then her arms couldn't support her weight (22lbs!) and the laws of physics took over. and of course i had her dangling in the air by the calf like a snared rabbit. we thought maybe it was just imitation since she sees us going over the edge and she likes to do what we are doing in her own fashion, i drink tea|she gnaws on the mug rim, i read a magazine|she eats the magazine.

then the other day we were playing in the living room and she did a belly crawl to the edge of the blanket towards the potty which was in a different corner than usual. so i picked her up and put her on it (naked butt) and she went. hmm. then later that evening after playing contently on the bed, she gets agitated and starts making for the edge again only not in the middle where i get up, where the rug is but between the rug & the nightstand where the potty is. her little paws were outreaching toward the potty. hmm. so i picked our lil adventurer up and put her on the potty and she peed. ding! lightbulb! she's not trying to crack her head open, she is trying to get to the potty! clearly, we've been missing her attempts to communicate with us (since it primarily consists of her staring intently at me with little to no vocalization or secondarily of agitation when she really really is on the brink. and is the precise way she communicates hunger and sleepiness as well.) and she is asserting her will and mobility to do for herself. i told Dì Sáu this who smiled benevolently and said something or the other about the baby crawling. (sometimes i think she doesn't understand me and just nods along pacifyingly) then this morning, VL peed on the potty and Dì Sáu put her on the blanket afterwards and then went to go wet the flannel wipe with warm water to wipe her down. and when she came back, VL had belly-crawled off the blanket and peed some more. on the floor. next to the potty. so now we finally get it.
i am so amazed at babies' intelligence and will to communicate and how adults paternalistically underestimate them. and i'm even more amazed at VL's will to self-determination.