And she's not walking yet.

So, baby Clara turned one in March. Since then, I have been asked more times than I can count what appears to be The Question to ask a mom of a one-year-old. Conversations go like this:

Person: "Awww! So cute! How old is she?"

Ashley: "Thanks! She just turned one."

P: "Is she walking yet?"

A: "Well... no but she's climbing stairs and standing and cruising along furniture and she is very verbal and says about thirty words and does so many other things she says about fifteen animal sounds and she can point to her tummy, ears, nose, mouth, eyes, feet and she can do all the moves for The Wheels on the Bus and..."

...and on and on until I run out of air.

Why do I feel like I need to do that? She is thirteen months which is well within/below the normal range of learning to walk. And she IS learning other things. She IS progressing physically. And even if she wasn't, who cares? She's still awesome. She's just... not walking yet. Which should be FINE except for some reason I can't resist that impulse for mompetition. You know, to show everyone else how GREAT SHE STILL IS even though she's not walking yet.

I mean... why?

(And it's not to say that I don't think people should ask that question, because I find myself asking things like that all the time. It's just how we make conversation, and how moms/people connect to each other.)

I just feel like I need to make her a t-shirt like the ones they make for pregnant ladies that say things like: "It's a boy. Due in May. No, he doesn't have a name yet. NO, you can't touch my stomach."

OR like the t-shirt my friends made me when I lost my voice on my twenty-first birthday that said: "YES, I lost my voice. Now buy me a drink."

You know, just to save time and energy when people ask the same questions over and over again.

I think I'll manufacture it myself: "I turned one in March. And no, I'm not walking yet."

I can't be the only one who needs something like this, right?