Bad Mamma, Good Mamma

Well, I'm going to admit that I failed with Leia this morning and sent her off to school in a cryey huff. Remember yesterday where she came home all disheveled, doing anything to her clothing to keep her cool? Well, I was determined that it would NOT happen today. Last night I chose an outfit with long cotton pants and a sleeveless shirt. My plan was that Leia would wear her sweater and her jacket to school and use the sweater if she was cold in class. Leia didn't like my plan. She complained and complained that she was going to be too cold and that her sweater wasn't navy blue, it was black and that she didn't want any homemade apple chips for breakfast snack, she wanted the purchased kind. (Can we say Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day?!?) I actually told her that I didn't care (and, in anger, called her a jerk under my breath). Yikes! Horrible Mamma! I sent her to the car in a sad state of hysteria. We still waved goodbye to each other, but . . . I can't tell you how horrible and sad I feel when we leave it like this. Luckily these events are pretty rare (and usually happen when I'm in a rush). Now I won't see her until 2, and I feel so guilty and sad. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. My first item of business at 2 is to apologize. That's what I do whenever I really make a mistake. I say, "I'm so sorry, Leia. You see? Mammas make mistakes, too." I realize that the blog often presents an idyllic picture of our family life, . . . so I thought I'd put a little dose of reality out there.

I suppose it was Annie who reaped the benefits of my earlier failure because I decided to consult the Baby Play & Learn for some activities this morning. (We've now had almost a full week of free-play, either together or apart, so I thought it was time for something constructive.) Annie and I had lots of fun (with poor Leia in the back of my mind).
But what morning would be complete without the exploration of Annie's favorite grapes? And today, she even SAID, "gapes"!!! It was wonderful! (Hooray for tactile/oral stimulation!) This picture is a perfect representation of how Annie feels when she finds and plays with these grapes. She's just SO happy! If I had to give this picture a title, I'd call it, "I Found Them!"
The first game we played was called "cup-in-a-cup" or "box-in-a-box" as the book called it. I took Annie's stacking cups and turned them upside down with a little surprise (a goldfish) under the last one, then I encouraged Annie to lift each cup up to find the surprise underneath them all. I'll admit, without being able to see the surprise, she lost interest fast.

Just thought I'd put in another pastime in the middle here. When Mamma's using the potty, instead of putting Annie in the play yard, I usually let her come in and play with Leia's name puzzle stool. Annie loves this so much more than Leia ever did! (Perhaps this needs to be a gift from Santa?)

Then we played "Follow Me!" which quickly turned into an opportunity for me to sing the "Following the Leader" song from Peter Pan. I just took Annie's special "Eggie Ant" and pulled him around with Annie following. We did this a LONG time. When she was finally tempted to stop (by the grapes again), I tried with the pull-caterpillar to no avail.
Yet another pastime is stopping at the air intake and running her fingers along it to make a fun sound. In fact, today she signed "sound/hear" by touching her ear after she did it!
Finally, we did some "Paper Play" which just consists of letting Annie play with a few different kids of paper. I found 8 kinds for her to explore: wax paper, parchment paper, paper towel, toilet paper, magazine paper, printer paper, napkin, and cardboard. This picture was taken at the very beginning of the game. Here's the middle (and the only reason why I kept this one is because I think it's one of those rare times when Annie REALLY looks like me for a change). : )
And here's the end! Can we say destruction?!? : )