Fun Time and Babble with Mamma! + "Duck"!

Annie and I did so many things after lunch today! It was just so exciting to give her the extra attention! First, we danced together! And this actually made me sad when I realized that I don't think I have ever done that with Annie. She just kind of looked at me wondering, "Why am I bouncing around, and why is a person's voice coming from over there?" How disorienting dancing can be if you don't understand what's going on!


She liked it much better when she could dance herself and watch me. She really laughed when I was dancing for her ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough" lends itself well to hand motions.) I got some great exercise!

Next, we read some books, . . . and it's always very obvious whether Annie likes a book or not. If she doesn't like it she'll arch her back, whine quite loudly, push the book away, or try to bite it. These days she prefers books with which she can either do something (like Pat the Bunny or Where is Baby's Belly Button) or watch something (like pop-up books). Perhaps she'll be one of those learners who needs to learn by doing? She's just getting to the point where she can help me turn pages. That'll be a fun addition.

Then we rolled a ball back and forth for a very long time. It's really exciting to have a child who likes to do this! (Leia was never really interested.) Annie has just learned to (at least try to) roll a ball back to a person. Every time she does, she "claps" which, for Annie, is banging her hands against her tummy (very similar to the "help" sign for babies). This particular game (as well as rolling toy cars back and forth) is most exciting to her. Her favorite, maybe?

Now a quick word about talking, . . . I don't think it's a coincidence that Annie is babbling/talking more today than many other days in the past. I actually have time to look and listen to her wholeheartedly! She has talked to me about everything, having little conversations that I happily pretended to understand, . . . but most exciting, today she said the word "duck" (or more specifically "dah") in reference to a book called Who Lives Here! She has also repeated her traditional "fall down" and "all done" lots today. It's just great to hear that verbal communication! (I was working with her on "ball," to no avail yet. And why the heck isn't she saying "Mamma"?)

Annie's Bike Ride

Today was Annie's very first time in the bike seat, and I was so excited to take her for a ride! I used to do this every morning with Leia Rose when she was this age. But now that there are two in the mix, the girls are always in the bike cart together. What a different riding experience!

Predictions

I have always found pleasure in trying to determine future behavior patterns of my children based on their temperaments. I’ve had fun the last few days collecting my thoughts from the last few years, and here is what I think Leia and Annie will be like as teenagers/adults: (It’s so exciting to have both descriptions be so positive in their own way! One: a leader. One: an optimist!)

Leia Rose: Leia Rose will be a driven leader. She’ll most likely be in student government, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she became president of her class. She will not be afraid to say what she thinks, and she certainly won’t feel a need to conform to something she doesn’t believe in. On the other hand, Leia Rose will have great passion and conviction about things she does believe in, and woe to those who disagree (which includes a few choice parental battles during the teenage years). Leia Rose will be career driven, no matter what her personal life holds, but it will be her family to whom she gives her utmost with the same conviction with which she defends her beliefs. Speaking of which, Leia Rose will be pursued heavily by men and have her pick. I’m guessing she’ll eventually choose someone who will allow her to continue to be a leader in whichever way she chooses in the household, . . . someone just like her very adaptable father. Oh yeah, and she’ll still be grumpy when she’s hungry.

Annie: Annie will be happy no matter where life takes her. She will be involved in one or two things that she’s passionate about and give her all to those things, but not extend herself further pressure of governing others. Annie will be able to see the positive side of every situation, an eternal optimist. She will prefer to remain quiet instead of asserting her opinion if it would incite argument (with the exception of her passionate beliefs) and will, therefore, make the teen years a bit easier on her parents. Annie will choose the right career for herself, and she’ll know her vocation early in order to make her family her focus of her life. I don’t think, however, that she’ll have men fawning over her, . . .and that will be fine with her because it will allow her to choose someone who loves her for her. Annie will also choose someone like her dad, and will project an air of equality about the relationship. Oh yeah, and she’ll still be grumpy when she’s tired.

**disclaimer** All predictions are subject to change and may, at one point, be considered null and void. Note the title “predictions” and not “blueprints.” So if I end up a mother to a meek flower and a sad insurgent, that’ll be okay too. And, hey, maybe one of them will become a nun? : )

Leia & Annie: Thumb, Food, & Milk

So, this is the kind of blog entry that I used to simply type into the girls' journals. I've noticed a few striking similarities and differences in regards to Leia Rose and Annie these days.

First, thumb sucking. Annie sucks her thumb (either thumb, by the way, although usually her left) by curling her fingers around her palm, just as you would imagine a child to do. Leia Rose used to suck her thumb (and only her left thumb) in a very original way, she used to flatten out her hand and curl it around her right cheek.

Second, food. Leia Rose had reflux and was spitting up far into her second year. She ate such a small amount of food and wasn't able to tell me when she was full, so this always led to overfeeding (which was a vicious cycle when it came to spit up). Annie hasn't spit up since her sixth month (but she has chronic ear infections). She eats such large amounts of food that she never seems to be full. Tonight Annie ate the equivalent of 3x what Leia would eat today. It was about 12 full ounces of food! I started with some dried fruit and continued with a 3 ounce meal I made for her. Through her signs and words, she communicated that she wanted more, so I gave her another 4 ounce jar of food and yet another 4 ounce container of fruit. We were floored!

Finally, breastfeeding. For both of my children, the end of nursing began with the first bite of solid food. I describe it as a downward spiral because as they would want to nurse less, I would produce less. But because Annie is a snuggler (and because I have been pumping to keep up milk production), I never expected her to give up breastfeeding so very soon! But it seems she's fighting me at every feeding now! She loves real food so much, and is used to it coming spoonful by spoonful, that the breastmilk doesn't come fast enough for her. She has taken to pulling back and jerking her head up and down in order to try and make the milk come out faster. When that doesn't work, she pushes away. This morning that very thing happened, and when she pulled back, she signed "eat." Wow. Leia Rose really weaned herself the same way, but she always had a very special feeding before her nap. We kept this feeding until she was 18 months old, at which time I realized that it was only me who wanted to keep her nursing and she actually said, "Bye!" to my bosoms! I wonder what will happen with Annie as we continue breastfeeding? Tonight I just held her close while she sucked her thumb. That was a nice cuddling substitute. : ) So as anyone can see, this is actually just a Mamma sadness, . . . Annie is doing just fine. She's just a bit more independent that I thought she was. That's a good thing.

Annie's Evening

Yes, playing with mixing bowls is turing out to be one of Annie's favorite activities these days. Annie and I spent an hour just banging them with spoons, watching them spin, tapping them together, and biting on them. Come to think of it, these next couple of days are as close as Annie's going to get at being an only child, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it. No Baby Einstein for Annie. No idle time in the swing. We are going to play! We are going to read!

Then at dinner, Brian did his best to get Annie excited about Bill Cosby's "Picture Pages" from our youth. (We were talking about this because of the recent release of The Electric Comany on DVD.) Brian did the cool sound and action of the neat pen Bill used.

And he even sang the song with a big flourish at the end, . . .

But Annie remained unimpressed.

In fact, all Annie wanted to do was to hold my thumb, suck her own, and snuggle. : )

Annie's Checkup at Nine Months

Today Annie had her nine month checkup with Dr. Stephens. And, of course, Annie was as happy as always. Gail (our nurse) weighed Annie and took all the measurements. Annie weighs 22 pounds and 6 ounces (95th percentile) and is 27 inches tall (15th percentile). Again, and I say this with all the love in the world, . . . short and fat. : )
While we were waiting for the doctor, Annie had fun playing with (and drooling on) the paper on the examining table. There were two main things I wanted to ask about today: Annie's rash and Annie's ears. You can't see it in the picture, but Annie has a red rash over most of her body, so I was wondering what Dr. Stephens would say about that. It started on Monday, and my first thought was that she had a reaction to the Coppertone sunscreen I put on her back (because that's where the rash started), but the second day it spread to her forehead (then I was suspecting heat rash), then to her front, and today to her extremeties. By this morning I had no idea what it was. Turns out that it's a viral rash. No other symptoms except a 99 temperature (which I thought was her ears) and a bit of disrupted sleep.

As for her ears, have you ever heard of a kid who simply lay happily against her mom's breast as the doctor took a long look inside her ears with an otoscope? That's Annie for ya'. Dr. Stephens said they didn't look bad, but again, not normal. She was glad Annie's having tubes put in. I was very glad to hear her say that! Just as Dr. Drake (the ENT) has great confidence in Dr. Stephens, Dr. Stephens has great confidence in Dr. Drake (because Dr. Stephens' second child had a cleft palate at birth and had to be operated on by Dr. Drake, . . . to great success). I couldn't feel more at ease with our decision for Annie. Prayers, please, for July 6.

Anyway, Dr. Stephens continued with the litany of questions as she examined Annie. I wondered if she would be concerned that, physically, Annie was simply sitting (and flopping back sometimes, at that). She wasn't. And, Lord knows, if the doctor isn't concerned, I'm not going to be encouraging much movement because crawling will be the next life-change for us all.

Going to Grandma's

Today Grandma took Leia Rose back to Newberry, South Carolina for some special time at the lake house. We'll meet up with them in a few days and, until then, I'm really going to miss her! But it seems that Mamma was the only one who felt a bit of sadness . . .

The Ballet I Learned Today

Playdate with Jessica, Declan, & Hollis

Despite my chaotic morning, we had an absolutely wonderful playdate with Jessica, Declan and Hollis this afternoon! Jessica (4) is Leia's very good friend from Artgarden Montessori and Declan (10 mo.) is Annie's friend as well. Here are Jessica and Leia Rose playing "doctor" . . .

And here's Declan and Annie playing together as well. Look how Declan has his arm around Annie! : )

Declan really enjoyed looking at all the new toys, . . . and I am always surprised at how fast Declan can move around a room! He's truly a bundle of energy!


Leia Rose and Jessica really enjoyed playing ponies at the end of the playdate . . .

See how the ponies are all sorted into a special line? Hmmmm, I wonder who had that idea?

And after a quick snack for Declan . . .

And a few "one, two, three, jump!"s from the couch, (I can't believe I let them do that, but they were just playing so well together), . . .

It was time to end the day?!? Heck, no!!! It was time for Leia and Grandma to head to ballet class. If you check out the next post, you can see what she learned today.

Whirlwind Morning!

Whew! This morning was just too much for me! First, the power went out before anyone was able to get ready for the day (and stayed off until 12:30). Next, Leia had a dentist appointment at 10 so Grandma was going to take care of Annie, but needed to be somewhere at 12. Third, Annie woke up after napping for only 20 minutes, and Grandma tried to tell me, but realized that our communications would be limited because both the power and the phones were out (this was because a work truck knocked over an entire telephone pole on the main road), so Grandma called me twice at the dentist's number because my cell was in the car. Everyone wanted to talk to me at the dentist office (plus I took pictures that I erased by mistake), but I just needed to get out of there because we had a playdate at 11:30 which would require us to go home, pack a lunch, and drive twenty more minutes! So from the dentist office I called Hollis and changed the playdate to our house at 12 (but to do that I had to call Grandma and explain how to get Hollis' number off our phone memory). And when we got home, the power was still out, Annie was hungry, and Grandma had let her sit on a poop for two hours!

This is beginning to sound like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Still, things calmed down after that, and we ended up having a very nice playdate. But note to self: this was too much for one morning. (The only reason why it happened at all was because I had forgotten Leia's dentist appointment and was surprised by the call reminder a couple of days ago.)

Grandma Arrives!

At the end our our playdate with Heidi and Emily, Grandma arrived!

Grandma came to see us for a few days both to visit a friend in the hospital and to take Leia back to the lake without us until this weekend (a venture that Leia has been looking forward to since she was asked if she wanted to). Grandma came bearing gifts from Gymboree, but guess what Leia and Annie enjoyed even more than the gifts? . . .
Leia has already turned her box into a "pony house" (can you see the door?) and Annie simply enjoyed eating hers. : ) Either way, the box is always more fun than the contents. (That's something Grandpa always says, . . . and boy is he right!)

Playdate with Heidi & Emily

Today we had a very nice playdate with Heidi and Emily. And despite the sweltering heat today, we still had a very fun time!

First, Annie splashed around in the water slide pool while she was waiting for the girls to get on their goggles, . . .
Here are Heidi and Leia in their goggles (Leia actually put her whole face underwater with them!), . . . and Annie looking on wondering who these strange creatures are, . . .
Later, Heidi and Leia played lots of "Elephant" and "Gorilla" and "Doggie" and even "Mayor" (I'm not sure how that last one creeped in there.) Emily and I spent lots of time being Elephant Mammas and Gorilla Mammas and Doggie Mammas (but no Mayor Mammas, for some reason). : )

At the Pool

Today was the first time ever that I tried taking both girls to the pool myself. And, you know, it worked out fine! Here are the girls playing "shark, shark, who's got the shark!"


For quite a while Annie was interested in these little dive balls that I originally purchased for Leia to retrieve.

And here is Leia in her element: playing with "toys" on the side of the pool. *sigh* I've tried to break her of this habit for years (mostly because there are other kids at the pool and she spends most of her time defending her territory), but it's still her favorite thing.

Annie had two favorite games today. One was sitting on the side and "jumping" to me into the water. The other was playing catch with this purple ball on top of the water. I'm happy to say Annie only fell over backwards once!

I had to do lots of planning to try and make this run smoothly. We decided to get ready while Annie had her first nap. After she woke up, we would eat lunch, go to the pool, use the joovy stroller to cart everything in, play in the pool, have snack, play in the pool, leave in our wet suits, come home, put all pool clothes/towels in the washer, and put Annie down for her second nap. I was a little bit worried about managing two little ones in the pool, but the new rules worked well: 1. Leia has to have her life jacket on at all times. 2. We all have to be together in the same pool. 3. No splashing Annie in the face. The only glitch was that I got far too mad at Leia for leaving her (very needed) sunglasses in the car. When we went back to get them, I noticed that I had left the camera in the car too. Like mother, like daughter.

Pots & Pans

Before Annie's first nap today, Leia, Annie, and I did a fun pots & pans activity. I remember how much Leia Rose enjoyed this same thing when she was Annie's age, and Annie enjoyed it just at much. Here Annie is banging a pot with her spoon and Leia covering her ears (because it's too loud). : )

Two Amazing Things!

Of course there aren't any pictures for this post, but I just had to write about how amazing God's will is. First of all, a few weeks ago on the neighborhood listserve there was a message from a "Karen and Will" asking for a babysitter. In the message I noticed that they had one little girl named Amelia who was 4 years old and on little boy who was 8 months old: two children the exact same age as Leia & Annie!!! I saved the message, wondering whether I should contact them and let them know the similarity, asking if they wanted to get the kids together. Well, the message sat in my inbox mostly because I really stick by my newest rule, "God will always put me in a position to make new friends, there is no need to force things, just allow God to lead the way." I guess I felt like I would be "forcing things" if I emailed them about it, and yet that email remained in my inbox. Well, today I got an email entitled "free tv." I couldn't believe it, but someone in our neighborhood was giving away a free 32' TV!!! I immediately emailed them back and got in the car. No one else had claimed it yet, . . . and there we were with a huge TV!!! And guess who it was who was giving it away? The same people who I had saved the email from a few weeks before! I told them the whole story and we were all excited! Anyway, this is definitely from God, so we'll see how these friendships flourish in Him. (Um, . . . plus I have a new 32' TV.) : )

Swingin' On the Hammock

You know, before dinner today Annie and I went out to the playground [Leia wanted to watch Zoboomafoo instead. : ( ] and after exploring the baby swing, the slide, some leaves, a chestnut, a stick, and the big-girl swings, we decided to relax on the hammock for a whole hour! Annie's such a joy! Here are some pictures from our R&R, . . .

Some Annie Doings This Sunday ("Doggie"?)

I think I mentioned the other day that Annie is now signing "More" repeatedly (especially in regards to food). Well, today she combined that with her newest discovered talent, blinking. It's really neat to see her purposely blink her eyes. She's very proud of doing it, too. Here is her combination "More"/blink activity. . . .


And after lunch we played lots with her busy box, . . .


And Mamma's very favorite hide-and-seek puzzle, . . .

And when she opened up the dog house, she took out the doggie and I said, "Can you say, doggie?" And Annie said, "Dah-dee." Neat! I'm not sure if that counts, though. And finally, just a cute profile shot (we don't get many of those), . . .

Two Mistakes at Church

This actually was a fairly pleasant Church day. No behavior problems, really. However, we did have two mistakes. The first was my mistake. I told Leia that she could have her pixi-stick candy (from Brooke's party) if she participated in the Mass (stand when we stand, sit when we sit, kneel when we kneel, pray when we pray). She wasn't old enough to do that yet. So she asked again and again at Mass, "Can I still have my candy?" But the second mistake was right after the Consecration. Leia Rose decided she wanted to go over and see Annie (who was in the carseat on the other side of me). As she stepped over the kneeler, her hand brushed the man in front of her. He wasn't kneeling, he was just kind of leaning over, and I'm sure this was because he was very, very old and in a state of severe dementia. Still, he turned around with the speed of a mongoose and scowled. And when I put my hand on him in an apologetic gesture as I said, "I'm so sorry sir," he said, "Excuse me. Get your hands off me!" I totally understood what was going on. I mean this poor man is probably in a nursing home all week and gets to go to Mass for one hour with his daughter who is also his caregiver. The poor woman, who was so embarrassed, turned around three times before the end of Mass and kept apologizing profusely to which I always replied, "Don't worry!" with a smile. And although I am very sensitive by nature, I ended up feeling more sorry for this poor man than embarrassed for what had happened. Brian, however, was really freaked out by the whole thing and kept saying, "What was that man's problem?!?" And when I told him, he just replied, "Well, we're never sitting in front of or behind him again!" Hey, there's no harm in protecting Leia from further incident.

Whirlwind Saturday Afternoon

Today started out so calm! Ahhh, we had a leisurely breakfast and lunch, . . . and then the festivities began. First, the whole family was invited to Brooke Blutreich's birthday party at Meadowmont Swim Club. (And I'll have pictures once Lynda e-mails them to me. I forgot my camera of course.) It was really fun! I was happy to see that Leia Rose wanted to go down the waterslide. (She didn't want to go on it even once last year.) I took Annie on it as well. Leia Rose tootled around in her life jacket, and while she tootled, she saw two friends from school were there as well: Nyah and Natalie. Annie went in the pool too and splashed around. I have to watch her really close, though. She has gotten into this bad habit of leaning way forward (trying to look toward the bottom) and then breathing in the water. Even with me watching, it still happened once in the pool and once in the bath. Anyway, we had some wonderful food and cake. Brooke opened her gifts. Leia picked out a cool marble game for Brooke called Piranha Panic. And Leia cried when she found out that Brooke wouldn't be able to play it right then and there. Leia really wanted that game for her birthday, . . . until Brooke opened her next present: a Barbie jeep! Well, that's number one on Leia's list now.

Then it was off to the Saint Thomas More parish picnic. It was wonderful, as always. Leia went on the huge blow-up slide, a ride called the "whirly bird," the rock wall, and the moon-bounce. She ate popcorn, snowcones, and cotton candy. Brian ate a second barbecue dinner. Annie was in the Snugli the whole time amazed at all the goings-on and excited to take her first sips of lemonade. And I guess I should also mention that there was this 12 year old boy who was trying to impress Leia with his climbing skills (and by jumping off the top of the monkey bars). Is it starting already?

Oma and Papa in Floam

Right before bath tonight, Leia had a streak of inspiration and decided she was going to make something out of floam (which acts a lot like play-doh except it's gooey stuff with little styrofoam balls embedded in it). She was busy working for a while, and then she came up to me and said, "This is Papa!" I took a look and couldn't help noticing that there was only one protrusion at the bottom. "Hmmmm," I laughed, "what's that?" "Oh," Leia said, "that's his leg. I haven't made the other one yet." I couldn't help laughing. And when she made Oma, I saw that Leia Rose might actually understand proportions! It was such a masterpiece, I had to include it. (And Leia was very excited that it was going on the blog.)

Jumpin' Bean!

Today I got out of the shower to find Annie watching Baby Bach, eating Cheerios, and actually jumping in the Johnny Jump Up for the first time! Up until now she just stood there. She was very excited and proud about this new physical activity. In related news, Annie also loves to jump while she is in our arms, . . . we call this Jumpin' Bean. : ) It inspired us so much that we all sing a silly song about it. It goes, "Jumpin' Bean, Jumpin' Bean, Jumpin' Bean, and a Daddy Bean." We have no idea why we sing this. : )

Here are a couple of other neat Annie things today: It was also the first time I saw Annie sign "More" multiple times at once (for more food, of course). But more amazing than that was when I walked downstairs with Annie to make breakfast for everyone (Leia was already sitting in the blue chair), as soon as Annie saw Leia she said, "La la!" I know "Leia" was her first word, and she often even pronounces it properly, but there's something seeing it happen again and again that helps you to know Annie's talking! And finally, and perhaps this is just too much information, but I never remember Leia's poops smelling as stinky as Annie's! It always surprises me, . . . always.

Leia's First Picture of Our Family!

Today Leia Rose drew her very first picture of our whole family. "Mamma is the one with eyelashes, and Daddy is the one without eyelashes. We are all standing on grass. I feel sad because I lost my Vacation Bible School work today, and Annie has a frown because she's crying. There is a sunshine in the sky with a cloud." At least Mamma and Daddy don't look concerned! : )

In a related topic, Leia sometimes has a problem with taking care of her things. Today was a good example (and a good lesson). Each day at Vacation Bible School she has brought home a "book" pamphlet that she made about the Bible story of the day. Today she left it somewhere or other "on the place with the little squares" (?). The leaders cleaned up before she could retrieve it. She cried, but she's learning (I hope) to be more resectful of her own property and the property of others.

Weaning Herself

I am amazed at how Annie is truly weaning herself, very similar to the way Leia did. Before our vacation, Annie was still breastfeeding five times a day (when waking, before first nap, before second, between second nap and dinner, at bedtime). Since we’ve returned, not only is she eating more (Annie eating more?), but she started only feeding on one breast in the morning, . . . and now none. Today it was no milk in the morning at all and only one breast even before the first nap! Even the in-between time between nap and bed, . . . replaced with Cheerios. And even if she wakes up at night crying, she wants simply Mamma, not Mamma’s milk! And this is all her doing! The way she tells me is she either pushes my breast away with her hands, plays with the nipple, or simply turns her head away. As Brian says, “Annie just really loves real food.” The two times a day where Annie still insists on Mamma’s Milk, though, are before her second nap and before bed. Those are times to treasure!

[And just recently I’ve taken to giving Annie breastmilk in her sippy cup from times I couldn’t give it to the Milk Bank. I just thought, well, why waste it?]

"Mamma, do you love me?"

Just recently Leia has started asking, "Mamma, do you love me?" She does this multiple times daily. Of course, she never asks this when we are actively playing together. It's always when I am making breakfast (like this morning), or doing the dishes, or cleaning, etc. I always make sure to look her in the eye, . . . and even go over to her and bend down to her level if I can, and say, "I love you so much, Leia!" Her response is always to simply smile a long smile while looking at my face. I am quite bewildered by this new phase of Leia's mostly because she is always such a confident child. I've never seen her doubt or be worried about much of anything like that. I guess she's just in need of some extra reassurance these days. Well, I'm happy to give it to her. : )

Leia's Vacation Bible School Concert

Then tonight we were all invited to Leia Rose’s concert for Vacation Bible School. This was a nice and exciting happy event to end a trying day. It was just wonderful to see Leia Rose up there singing, “I’m in the Lord’s Army” with the little hand motions. (Leia is the one directly under the letter "T.")
She also did lots of songs with real sign language. She was very proud to show us the sign for Jesus, which is touching your pointer finger to the palm of one hand and then the other, . . . but she was more excited to get the cookies and juice when the concert was over.

And Annie had a very surprised reaction whenever anyone clapped. . . .

Surgery for Annie

Well, today was Annie’s appointment with Dr. Amelia Drake, the ENT that Dr. Anne Stephens (Annie’s Physician) has the most confidence in. The situation is this: Leia has had four ear infections within the last two months. With each infection (with the first one being the most serious because we had no idea she had one, . . . Annie’s just that good of a baby) she has been medicated to a higher degree with antibiotics; therefore, she is either medicated or has an infection. Today her ears looked just as they did last week, “angry, but not normal.” When I asked them what that meant, they said that she still has some fluid in her ears that has no way to drain out, so it needs to be reabsorbed. This takes an incredibly long time, so she just keeps getting infection after infection. It is no surprise that Dr. Drake almost immediately suggested putting tubes in Annie’s ears, a diagnosis that Brian and I were totally ready to hear. We had been doing lots of research about tubes vs. alternatives and, thanks to two very good friends (thank you Ashley and Hollis) who both have children with tubes, we found that alternatives take time to try out. Time that could involve infection after infection again, and this time with hearing loss. Both highly recommended the procedure. And that was the deciding factor for us. And through it all, Annie just sat there happily for the entire day. Being poked and prodded. Being shuffled to one part of the hospital to the next. Everything seemed to be more draining on Mamma. Eventually we had her hearing tested (to be sure there wasn’t hearing loss from her first infection). This was at my request, because otherwise I always would have wondered.

Let me just stop here for a second to mention how really neat this hearing test was. We went into a little soundproof room with these black windows on the left-hand side. Annie was supposed to look straight forward (there were a couple of toys sitting there to keep her attention) until she heard a sound coming from those black windows, then she was supposed to look toward the sound. The four black windows contained these little mechanical stuffed animals that only lit up when the child looked toward the sound. Well, once Annie figured out that she could see a roaring lion, a walking rhino, and the ever-famous cymbal-playing monkey as a reward for following a sound, . . . she looked every time. I could tell just by holding her during the test that she had perfect hearing. Thank God.

Anyway, I asked all these questions about the surgery. A few of them were: How long do the tubes stay in? (About 1 year.) Why don’t the tubes affect hearing? (Because it’s a tiny hole, not a large hole.) What happens if she gets another infection before the surgery? (Go ahead and medicate her again, or just wait because we’ll drain it during the surgery anyway.) Because Annie is currently Dr. Drake’s youngest patient, she will be the first surgery on July 6 (which was as early as we could make it). We already went through the pre-care procedure today, so we don’t have to return until the day of the surgery.

I also have to say that we remembered the ENT office very well because we were there last year when Leia Rose “made a table of bird seed” in her ear. Leia actually had to have the same surgical experience to have the seed extracted that Annie will have to have to have tubes inserted. Anyway, quite a few of the staff remembered us (which I couldn’t believe) because they loved Leia so much, . . . and now they all fell in love with Annie too. At least that made it a quasi-pleasant experience. Then at the end I wanted to go up to the special wall where they pin up each item they have taken out of children’s ears since 1970. Lots of coins, lots of buttons, some egg shells, a Barbie shoe, a pop top, . . . and there was Leia’s bird seed.

No, . . . & Other Annie News

I had to mention the priceless face of Annie when Mamma says, “No.” I recognized it immediately. It’s the same face Leia had at the same age. Except Annie is told “No” when she’s trying to pull her bib off . . . And Leia was told "No" when she was trying to knock over the Gerber Rice Cereal . . .

In other Annie news, I finally heard Annie say “All Done” again today! I hadn’t heard that one since before we had been on vacation and, considering the problems with her ears these days, I was hoping I would hear it again quite soon. She hasn’t been talking as much, but I really can’t complain, Grandma did get Annie to say “more” twice during the vacation. In addition, she learned the word “flower” (“wuh-wuh,” just like Leia used to say) from the vases of flowers at the hotels, and first said it while staring at a fake peace lily plant at a Burger King.

"This is me NOT playing with a needle!" and other funny VBS stories.

I just had to mention a couple of funny things Leia said today about Vacation Bible School. First, she came home insisting that a “bushel” was some kind of a plant that made “letter chimes.” Then I realized that they had been singing “This Little Light of Mine” and she was referring to the verse, “Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m going to let it shine!” Try explaining that song to a four-year-old. Honestly. “Ah-hem, . . . God has given you many gifts as well as a great love for Him that you should let everyone see. Therefore, don’t hide those gifts or that love under a proverbial bushel. Or that love (the light) won’t be able to shine because it will be hidden (under the bushel).” I have to be nuts to think she understood that! Meanwhile, she had convinced herself about the “plant” with “letter chimes” so intensely that it took a little while to prove the truth to her, but once I did (did I really?) we both had a good laugh about “letter chimes.”

And when Leia first ran out of Vacation Bible School today, she was carrying all sorts of fun crafts, but the thing she was most proud of was this little worksheet that read, “Draw a picture to show a way you can use your hands to do what is right.” And Leia proudly proclaimed, “This is me NOT playing with a needle!”

I don't think I've ever had a better belly laugh in years!

Leia's First Ballet Class

Today was Leia Rose’s first ballet class ever, . . . and she has been wanting to go for a long time. Leia’s interests run the entire gamut. She loves everything pink, Barbie, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and Littlest Petshop, . . . but she equally loves bugs, worms, and especially dinosaurs. (That’s her lunchbox request for next school year, . . . dinosaurs. Hmmm, . . . ebay.) Today, however, Leia Rose was truly feminine. She loved Vacation Bible School this morning again (they learned about the prophet Daniel), but what she really couldn’t wait to do was to get home and put on her new pink leotard, pink tights, and pink ballet slippers. I took lots of pictures all around the house (and I even tried a few with the tiny digital camera Mom and D gave us for Christmas, . . . that I had totally forgotten about. We’ll see if it works. IT DOES!) At four we went to the Ballet School of Chapel Hill, which also happens to be home to her Artgarden Montessori Scholl as well. There were six girls in her class. One of them was actually named Olive. I had never met anyone with that name before, well, except for Olive Oil. : ) So I had to tell the mom my “Olive” knock knock joke. You know, the one that ends with Olive You (I love you)? I’m not sure she appreciated it.

It was pretty hard for me to put into words my feeling about watching my daughter during this first ballet class. I felt very nostalgic, remembering the short time I took ballet and being kind of sad that I was never in a recital. I was also proud of my daughter, but mostly I was overflowing with happiness for her. It’s just the most special thing for me to watch my daughter experience happiness. The only thing that tops it is watching both of my children experience happiness together. Before Leia was born, my one wish for her (and Annie too) was that I wanted her to be happy in this life and the next. That pretty much covers everything I could hope for. I don’t know if I have ever seen Leia Rose more in her element than at that ballet class, dancing (mostly jumping) around with all of the other pink-leotard-clad four-year-olds. I had never considered Leia a very physical child until now. Seeing her enjoy physical activity was also a great blessing. It’s really neat how a ribbon wand or a scarf can make anyone appear graceful. Later when she asked me, I told her the truth about how I had never really liked ballet. I realized that I never had a true love for an extracurricular activity like this. Come to think of it, almost all outside-of-school activities I was in seemed a chore to me. I guess I felt they just cut into my play time. Telling Leia that I didn’t really like ballet when I was young was a bit of a mistake. Noticing her concern, I tried to explain that even though I didn’t enjoy ballet, I was waiting for a daughter who would and that it brought me lots more happiness to watch her. The short of it is this: I never had a true love for an activity like dance, but I sure felt great joy watching my daughter revel in that same true love that I never experienced.

And I got all of this out of a four-year-old pre-ballet class. *sigh* What the heck is going to happen when she makes her First Communion?



As for the actual class, we got to watch it through mirrored glass, a really great feature! Ironically, I couldn’t hear anything, so I had to guess what was going on. Once they crawled like a crab and then dove under a scarf (“it was a waterfall, Mamma!”). Another time the teacher had them lay in a circle with their toes all touching (“it was a pineapple pizza with M&Ms, Mamma!). Later they curled up in balls, crawled on the floor, curled up into balls again, and then ran around holding a scarf between their arms (“we were changing into butterflies, Mamma!”) I did see them do first position and a few other true ballet poses, and Leia fell down every time they did the one where you put one foot to the knee. (I don’t know what it’s called.) And through the whole thing, Annie kept saying “Leia! Leia! Leia!” (which sounds a bit more like “Yay-ah! Yay-ah! Yay-ah” sometimes) whenever she caught a glimpse of her sister.

Now I have to mention more about Annie in all of this. She was an angel! We stood sweating in the heat up there on the second floor and looking into some windows for a whole hour. Annie just happily chewed on toys that I just happened to have in my bag. At one point I resorted to letting her eat cheerios out of a snack trap, . . . which quickly deteriorated into her eating them off of a filthy bench. *sigh* This is a perfect example of the kind of baby Annie is: an extremely happy one. : )