We managed to get Anna laughing – real, honest belly laughs – today. It was so cute. Carrie and I would stick out our tongues, and Anna would stick her tongue out to mimic us. Then we started giggling…and she did too! I wish I could have grabbed the video camera, but I opted to enjoy the moment instead.
Month: September 2008
Look, Ma! Hands!
Anna has discovered that she has hands. It’s pretty funny – she waves them in front of her face slowly and goes all cross-eyed trying to focus on them. I can almost hear her saying “Whoa! These things are so cool!”
3.11 Years Old!
Dear Carolyn,
One month left of year three…I’ve been telling people you’re “almost four” for so long now that in my head you’re already four. Actually, in my head I suspect you’re a lot older than that even. I keep worrying that I’ve missed giving you certain opportunities (piano lessons and sports teams) and then I realize that you still have years and years ahead of you to try out whatever you’re interested in before you have to settle down and figure out what you want to be when you grow up. (For the record, you’re pretty stuck on “firefighter” right now.)
So for the past few weeks, my “why” girl seems to have been replaced by a lightbulb. You are so full of “whats” lately – usually following any explanation I give you when you’ve asked “why”, first. I’m beginning to think you need your hearing checked!
And filed under “cute right now, but could potentially become obnoxious”, you’ve started stomping your foot and saying “no!” when you’re unhappy about whatever I’ve just said. I do have to struggle not to laugh at it, because pretty much immediately after you’ll become cooperative…you obviously want to please us, but you also want a bit more control over your life than you currently have. It’s a tough thing, kiddo. I still sometimes want to stomp my foot and say “no!” to life.
The other day I was struck by how very grown up you’ve become. It was after dance class, and we had to meet Daddy at the shop to get a few things done. You were wearing your purple sparkly leotard and a pair of purple sweat pants – you looked like a professional dancer. Daddy and I were both busy, and then after a bit I went to see what you were up to, and I found you – my shy-around-strangers girl – sitting right at the table with everyone who was there for Sit & Knit and knitting a few stitches on someone’s scarf (with her help, of course!) I think that’s why in my head you’re so much older. You’ve become so self-confident and out-going that you just seem like you can’t possibly still be three. So I’m going to remind myself every morning to enjoy this last month of you being three, because all too soon you’re going to be all grown up!
Love, Mommy
Silly Sayings
The other night before bed, I asked Carrie for a good night kiss:
Carrie: OK, but let’s have a marrying kiss!
Me: A marrying kiss? What’s that?
Carrie: You know, you have a marrying kiss and then you live happily ever after.
…Do you think maybe I’ve let her watch one too many Disney movies?
I have a coffee mug with characters from just about every animated Disney movie made, including Sleeping Beauty. Carrie really wants to watch Sleeping Beauty (and actually it’s been on my Netflix queue for a while but it’s not currently available). So at breakfast a few days ago she saw Sleeping Beauty on my mug and asked again if she could watch it:
Me: Oh, I don’t know… Daddy, do you think Carrie’s old enough for Sleeping Beauty?
Denis: I’m not sure…
Carrie: I am too old enough to watch it! I mean, look at me!
Yep, 3 going on 13.
Overheard at the dinner table:
“I normally like my bread two ways: with butter…and sometimes, without.”
First Fiber Festival
Anna went to her first fiber festival today. I don’t think she was too impressed with the fibery beasts (she slept right through seeing any of them) but she loved all the colors we saw. Some of those colors came home with us:
Clockwise from 12:00 – Black Cherry Panda Bamboo yarn from Spininng Bunny, Mixed Berries alpaca/wool/nylon tie-dye sock yarn from Golden Oak Alpacas, Salvia 100% merino superwash fingering weight yarn from Pollywogs Yarn and Fiber, Leaves Panda Bamboo yarn from Spinning Bunny, 12 oz. Cassis merino top from Cloverleaf Farms, and finally, an unknown content batt from a shop I didn’t catch the name of…I think I accidentally fell down and bought it so it wouldn’t become “The Batt That Got Away”!
Carolyn’s favorite part was the sheep! And the alpacas! And the llamas! I think if we could have passed it off as a dog she would have taken one of the tiny little Shetland sheep home with us. We added to Carrie’s collection of fibery stuffed animals with a handsome chocolate llama, and started Anna’s collection wth a floppy lamb lovey with a fuzzy tummy. Aren’t they cute?
Next month: Rhinebeck. Because, you know, I need more wool like I need a hole in the head…well, actually, one can never have enough wool.
(More pictures from the festival can be found here – Kodak Gallery album, requires sign-in.)
New Respect for Single Parents
Denis did me a huge favor this afternoon and went to help set up for the wool festival the shop is participating in this weekend. So I had the kids by myself all day and all evening, and since Denis normally deals with dinner and does most of the bedtime routine, this is a big deal. (Yes, I know, I count my blessings over this!)
I thought I was doing a decent job: Anna only screamed for half the time I spent getting dinner on the table, and I managed to nurse her while eating one-handed, then even got “dessert” (sliced apples) for Carrie and cleaned the kitchen while she finished up eating.
Then I thought, well, it’s been a few days since either girl had a bath, and the weekend’s going to be super busy, and we have the nifty mesh baby seat that goes right in the tub, so I can give them a bath together, they’ll both wind down and sleep really well… Big. Mistake.
After getting baby oil everywhere (I was trying to comb out some of Anna’s cradle cap) and – get this – dropping the phone in the tub when Denis called to say goodnight, Carrie helpfully tried to rinse the shampoo out of Anna’s hair by dumping a bucket of water on her head. The baby started screaming, Carrie started screaming because the baby was screaming, and I wanted to start screaming. It all went downhill from there.
Although, I suppose, since Carrie is in bed (theoretically – she’s been staying up until 10:30 or 11 reading lately) and Anna screamed herself to sleep after I got her in pajamas, I should count myself successful, right? The kids are fed, clean and asleep, the dogs have been fed and taken out, the kitchen is cleaner than it was when I started (I can’t quite truthfully say it’s “clean”) and I have a few free minutes to actually type two-handed!
Photo Shoot
There were several babies born in Denis’ office this year – and it’s a pretty small company, so it was proportionally a lot of babies. So they decided their holiday card would be all the new babies. It was pretty funny to try to have seven babies (two of which were quite mobile) in a photo together. Anna, being the only girl, was propped up in the middle on a boppy pillow…and promptly drifted off to sleep amidst the chaos. I guess she has a lot of practice, what with having an older sister and two big dogs constantly trying to disturb her sleep times…
2 month well-baby visit
Vital stats:
9 weeks, 2 days old
11 lbs, 8 oz
23 inches
Anna is pretty much in the 50th percentile for everything. So I was kind of surprised when the pediatrician remarked that she was a “solid” baby. But then my mom pointed out that the second child has to be solid to stand up to all the loving from the first!
And there was the first round of vaccinations today. I feel really, really bad, because this pediatrician doesn’t allow babies this little to have even Tylenol, so Anna has been miserable all afternoon long. Hopefully she’ll feel better by morning!
How You Know It’s Time To Fold The Laundry…
Last night we went upstairs to go to sleep and realized that the latest load of laundry was still (unfolded) on the bed. Seeing as all of the laundry baskets in the house were already full (of more clean, unfolded clothes), I did the only thing I could do.
I dumped it all in the co-sleeper.
The baby doesn’t use it (much), so it may as well do something other than take up floor space, right?
(But no worries. I folded everything (wrinkles? what wrinkles?) and put it all away earlier this evening. Of course, the load that’s currently in the washer is going to live in one of those newly empty laundry baskets for the next several days, I’m sure…)
Two Months Old!
Dear Anna,
You have changed so much in the past month, you’re like a completely different baby! For one thing, you now have eyebrows. Actually, they’re still so light and fine I’m probably the only one who notices the difference.
Let’s see. You started waking up and noticing the world more. You smile, a lot, and it’s pretty funny what we’ll all do to get you to do it again. I’d smile a lot too if two adults and a medium-sized kid were all cooing and gooing and making goofy faces at me just so I’d smile one more time. You have no interest in toys unless they have faces, so at the moment you mainly adore the teddy bears hanging on the mobile over your pack & play, your “Anna Bear”, and the approximately seven billion other stuffed animals and dolls scattered throughout the house.
You’ve become quite a bit more vocal. You’re still a fairly quiet baby, but sometimes you talk to us – “gaa”s and “eh!”s and other little baby noises. And sometimes you outright chuckle in your sleep, big belly laughs that make me wonder what kind of jokes those angels are telling you in your dreams!
You are fast becoming a dedicated thumb-sucker. It takes you quite a while to actually find the right appendage and get it just so, but when you do it’s there to stay…until you decide you’re hungry. I don’t know why I find it so cute, but the sight of you with that teeny-tiny thumb stuck in your mouth makes me smile. I swear, it’s like 1/2 an inch long, it can’t really be all that satisfying, can it?
I’m worried that just typing this will completely jinx it, but you’ve slept seven hours straight for three nights in a row now. Not always seven hours that I’m actually in bed, but it’s definitely a start! You’re still not interested in sleeping in your crib for any length of time (seriously, you wake up within two minutes of being put in there) but I don’t think your big sister was at this point either!
The amazing thing is, even though I’ve been through this all with your big sister, it’s still all new and different. The first few weeks you were here I spent ages searching for her features in your face and comparing what you did when with what Carrie did when. Then I realized that no matter how similar – or different – the two of you may be, you’re two entirely different people, so I have to just wait to get to know you the way I got to know her. I can’t get over how much you change every single day – you barely resemble the brand new person I met just two months ago, and I wonder what discoveries I’ll make about you tomorrow.
Love, Mommy