The finest form of flattery

That is not magic fairy dust. Nope, that is good old fashioned gray, filthy furniture dust! Annie has been copying me and I have decided to invest in my future by cleaning cleaning cleaning! Annie complained very loudly when I resisted giving her my duster. She won it over and went to town "dusting" the furniture! It was very cute. She also enjoys taking her pigtails out and then setting the hair-tie on top of her head, as if the hair will just jump into the tie all by itself! She also loves to stand up on a chair next to me while I cook dinner or lunch. I mean, in a few years, maybe I'll have my own live-in cook! Hey, don't laugh. She's very quick for her age. It could happen! ;o)

Annie got to go to the Children's Museum for the first time recently! We had a blast with our friend Mary and her daughter Lyla, who is a little older than Annie. Annie enjoyed following her around and driving her crazy. :o) There is a toddler area specifically made for little ones just her size! She loved the padded playground where she could run across the bouncy bridge and climb up and down the padded stairs! She really enjoyed climbing up the chipped-rubber hills and even tried pull a fast one on me and go down the slide without me! We finished up our trip with her first ride on the carousel, which she just LOVED! I think I have a little dare-devil on my hands.

I have decided that Annie has figured it all out. She knows. She's cute. We walk around in the grocery store and Annie flirts with her big snaggle-toothed grin and then burries her head in my shoulder, then teases the unsuspecting passerby with another shy grin. Oh boy. I'm is so so so much trouble.

In fact, the day Annie turned 11 months old, she threw her very first hissy fit. I told her it was naptime, and proving my point, she pulled my glasses off of my face and threw them on the floor. I said, "No Annie. Time for a nap" and picked up my glasses. She took them off again and threw them on the floor in defiance. When I didn't allow her to do it a third time, she arched her back and went limp, heaving in full-body sobs. I set her on the floor, where she dropped dramatically to her knees and then her stomach, rolling across the living room floor pausing only to jabber angry protests and kick and throw her fists. I don't know what she thinks she is saying during those rants, but I am fairly certain it isn't Disney-channel approved. I picked her up, put her over my lap, and spanked her bottom. Then she laughed. Holy Moses, someone please send me a book. And then pray for me. Hard!

A Royal Flush

The title just about sums it up: Annie has learned how to flush the toilet. She has also recently learned how to put non-disposables in the trash, clean diapers in the diaper genie, and clap enthusiastically after doing either. Wait for it... here comes the second recurring theme in my blog: I am in a for a world of trouble! If I didn't have motivation before to keep things tidy, I sure do now. This is the stage where wedding rings mysteriously disappear off of night stands never to be found again, victims of the flushing abyss. This is when the plumber becomes a monthly bill to retrieve stuffed animals who truly lived up to their names in the crappiest way possible (pardon the pun). Yes, this is where you hear your cell phone ringing... where? I understand now why mothers in the airport have their children on those leashes disguised as stuffed animal back-packs!

Annie is quite the conversationalist lately. She carries on in baby-babble as if I knew what in the world she was saying. Sometimes she "sings" in her own little language as well when I turn on the radio. I am also waiting for Annie to start barking soon. Yesterday while I was talking on the phone with a friend, I turned around to notice Annie had disappeared. I ran through the house looking for her. She was perched right in front of the dog bowl, cheeks bulging just about as big as her eyes were. BUSTED. She tried to make haste, but I caught her and started fishing out chunky Iams from her chipmunk cheeks. No worries though, she had two fistfuls that I didn't notice and no sooner than I'd emptied the previous morsels had she stuffed in two more! I mean, does that even taste good? I guess I can't complain though. This is the kid who starts to throw a fit if I don't share my broccoli!

Annie started going to Goddard School twice a week while I am at work. She is adjusting quite well! Annie loves playing with the other kids. What I find hilarious though, is that she will be transitioning to the 1 yr old class soon, where she is expected to sleep on a cot. Oh silly teacher! You have a lot to learn about Annie. Maybe she will have me schooled by the end of next month and prove me wrong, but I think this is a long shot!

I am just now getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day. We received valentines from all of the grandparents over the last week for Annie and even for Michael and I! Today I went out and found sugar cookies that were quite delicious and also quite vegan at Whole Foods. YAY! So, I made some frosting from soy-butter (I really can't tell the difference between this and other frostings), dyed it red, and put heart cut-outs over the frosting and sprinkled red sugar on them. It'll be Annie's first cookie!

Another thing we will be doing on Valentine's Day is taking a trip to the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. Annie had a double ear infection last week, making that... oh I can't even count. Maybe four ear infections in six months? Two of which took two rounds of antibiotics. She has been exposed to 4 antibiotics already, which I am not thrilled about. So unfortunately, tubes may be in her future.

Speaking of firsts, Annie will turn one next month. As much as I told myself it would be silly to have a birthday party for a one-year-old who won't remember it, I am feeling very tempted to do it up big-- with family AND Annie's little "friends" (Aka anyone I know with a child under the age of 2). I am not sure what got into me, but Annie just loves to be around other kids and I think it would make her birthday so special! I also want to bum an idea off of my friend Mary and make her a storybook about her first year of life using pictures we took up until now.

Another update is that we may be in the housing market soon. We are feeling cramped in our apartment right now. The square footage is ok, but we need more rooms and more storage.

Well, I am too sleep deprived to keep typing after a week and a half of ear-infection-annie waking up several times a night. Here's to the hope of a healthy girl who sleeps through the night again!

Snow Days are for crazy moms

Do you remember when you were in school (ANY school... middle, elementary, college... Shoot, I'm sure this is even fun for GRAD students!) and you saw those magical words show up on the screen? "Closed". Oh sweet chocolate covered wonderfulness. Sleeping in, big breakfast, pajama day, games, movies.... nothing but laziness and fun! But now, ohhh but now. It all dawns on me that snow days make mothers crazy. And they are not good for the general health and well being of the public. :o) Now, Annie is not in school so she would be with me all day ordinarily. But usually, I am going to the gym for an hour and a half while I work out and think adult thoughts rather than "Do you need your diaper changed? Yes! That IS a doggie! Good job walking!" Those thoughts are fun and wow do I love Annie! And normally we go to the grocery store or do some kind of errand where Annie is distracted and looking around. And it is nice to not be running all day! But. OOOH big old but. I am going on day three of being inside my apartment, which is messy and cluttery (which drives me NUTS but is so overwhelming to clean that I don't even know where to start!) and I am feeling a little shut in! I can only imagine if Annie were 10 and she had a 7-year-old brother and a 4-year-old sister and they were all tugging on my pantleg wanting something to do and wreaking havoc all through my house. I am beginning to think that somewhere without snow days sounds nice... and without hurricane days. Arizona maybe? Just kidding of course. But man, wouldn't that be nice?

Annie has been growing up so fast! She can make it across our great room without sitting down or toppling over and she seems a lot more confident with her walking than she did even a few days ago. She has also learned that not only can you take things OUT of containers, you can put them IN! Yesterday I caught her trying to stuff clean diapers into the diaper pail, which was so cute! She was trying to help I think! We'll learn about clean and dirty diapers later, but for now I'm chalking this up as a victory! Then, in the bathroom my victory backfired as she started putting my toiletries in the garbage can. Oh well. I mean, when she knows that things can go in, that means she can learn how to put her toys away right?! What is next? Potty training?! Let's do it! Ok. Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself....

I made turkey goulash for dinner the other day and she LOVED it! She liked being able to pick up the pasta herself and feed herself, but I was a little surprised because I made it pretty spicy and she gobbled it right down! I guess Annie has a mature pallette and won't be lowering herslf down to one-flavored baby mush anymore. She also can give herself a drink with her sippy cup. It took us a while but I think she has figured out that you have to tilt it up to get the drink out.

We have also been learning about discipline some. I have discovered, thanks to the advice of a good friend, that if I label what I don't want her to do rather than just say "no", she can actually understand. For example, when she goes into the death roll while I change her diaper, I have been saying, "on your back please!" and she does it now! Amazing! But with understanding has come the ability to not obey. So, she decided to do the death roll anyway and I used a very stern voice and said, "No Annie. On your back." To which she replied with a defiant look and a roll to the side. So I did a two-finger slap on her hand and said, "No no Annie. Naughty." And then she giggled and laughed! Oh dear... I am in for it. Even I didn't do that when I was a baby! NOT FAIR!

Annie has been singing, dancing, and babbling almost nonstop. She also thinks that everything is a "doggie". The pen is a doggie, the puffs are doggies, doggie is a doggie... I am pretty excited that she has so many consonant sounds down though. She does baba, dada, mama, doggie, and daddy. Not bad for a 10 month old! She even did a "woof!" once when I was reading a book with a dog in it to her!

Annie has also nearly mastered the art of napping. She starts to get grumpy around 11, I put her in her crib, and then she sleeps for 1 to 2 hours at once! Oh how I LOVE this time. I can get a LOT done in an hour I have discovered. Or I can even take a nap! Yes, this stage definitely has its perks!

Well, here's to hoping that the roads get better soon, otherwise I might be way too excited to go to work this weekend! Nah... I'm sure I'll miss her the moment I start my car. Sigh.