Halloween is coming and Annie is ready! Complete with super adorable puppy costume. Also fitting for the season, Annie is creeping and crawling! I got lucky and was home from work the day she started making progress with her crawling. She does what I like to call the "seal flop" to get forward movement. Annie will start out on her hands and knees, then push her tush up in the air and run in place. After this fails to get her where she wants to go, she then just throws her upper half forward and flops her legs rhythmically until she reaches something she wants (or loses her temper because it took too long). I am coming to realize this will be my scariest Halloween yet! From grabbing my hot coffee mug (even though I had her on the opposite hip and was being very careful!)--which luckily dumped on me and not her-- to crawling over and grabbing the power strip in the 5 seconds it took me to walk 3 feet to let the dog out and turn back around to look at her, she has dropped my heart into my shoes plenty this month! She has also pulled the (cool) iron from the wall, stuck her hand in my soup, and quite nearly pulled dinner onto the floor by craftily tugging on the place mats(luckily Michael plays some good defense). I have decided there are some things (lightweight bookcases with decorative stuff on them) we just need to pack up and put away, but I'm contemplating getting a gate-enclosure play area for he
r. My mind is spinning with all of the potential poisonous, electrical, heavy, sharp, and hot things that are now within her reach.I am also learning that the hardest part of being a mommy is coming up on me quickly: actual parenting! Before, I was a milk dispenser, a snuggler, a comforter, a playmate, a protector. But now, I have to parent. Yikes. I can see her little purposeful whines and cries manipulating me into what she wants and I have realized it is time to introduce the most powerful two-letter-word in our language: NO. Annie has found it interesting to see what happens when she grabs some skin and pinches. I scoop up her hand and, with as firm a voice as I can muster while looking at such a cute face, say, "no!". She stops, pauses, and then she laughs. She laughs! I am IN for it. While discipline may be no fun, having "that kid" in the grocery store is probably worse. It is so tough thinking about all of your options when it comes to discipline. Right now it is pretty simple, but later? Spank? Time out? Both? Neither? Eat it or go to bed without dinner
or eat it or no dessert or hide the food they don't in stuff so they'll eat it? Aye. It's a good thing I have a year and a half before she is 2! They may not learn how to speak french overnight, but I can't even believe how quickly she became mobile. At the risk of sounding like a total mom, I can't believe how fast they grow up.
We have been very busy this month. Michael was honored to be chosen as a groomsman in two weddings this month. I could only attend one of them and we went last weekend for the event with what I am pretty sure was fully half of everything that belongs to Annie. How does that happen? How can someone who weighs less than my left leg need the biggest suitcase by a long-shot? Maybe I should just wear a t-shirt that says, "First Time Mom" on it when I go to things like this. Then all will be clear. And actually, I think I may be freakishly over-prepared even for a first-timer. Annie did pretty well with the driving and since I took enough entertainment to start my own daycare in the hotel room, she was also pretty content the rest of the weekend. My wonderful mother-in-law was able to stay in an adjoining room with us so I could attend most of the festivities. She had such a good time she tried to fit Annie in her suitcase (nice try Grandma!). It really was a much needed time for Michael and I to get dressed up, dance, and enjoy the evening together while celebrating with close friends.
Annie's latest favorite things include playing peek-a-boo, itsy bitsy spider, pat-a-cake, and doing the chicken dance. She also enjoys hamming it up for anyone who will give her attention by showing her gummy grin and then hiding in my shoulder. If she does not get attention, she has learned to cough until we look in her direction. She plays on the floor with her toys but keeps a close tab on her caregiver. Occasionally, she will turn and grab my leg. "Just checking!"
She also loves to read/eat books and she still loves a good snuggle from time to time!
That is the latest and greatest... until next time!
