Trucking Along

Why would she want to walk on her feet when she can get around on her knees just fine? Anna can walk when I hold her hands, even if I'm just holding one hand, but don't ask her to walk without holding onto anyone or anything. Some day she'll want to walk and then she'll do it, but until then, crawling and knee-walking seem to be working just fine.

Cake!

Anna ate her first piece of chocolate cake at the family birthday party last week. It wasn't the first time she had tasted chocolate since she managed to grab a chunk of a cupcake I was eating and stuff it in her mouth when she was about eight months old, but she was still a little tentative about trying the cake at first. I thought she'd end up with cake in her hair and all over her face, but she managed to get most of it into her mouth.

I asked my sister to take pictures with my camera, so that I could watch Anna eat her first piece of chocolate cake in person instead of on the digital screen on the back of my camera. Erica did a great job and documented Anna's every move. I think she took about 30 photos of Anna eating cake. Thanks Erica!

Birthday Girl

This sweet little girl turned one yesterday. It's hard to believe that a year has already flown by. Because Anna gets overwhelmed by lots of adults, we decided to keep her birthday party to her aunts and uncles and Dan's parents this year. We'll be celebrating on Saturday, but yesterday Anna got to open her presents from Mom and Dad.

She did a little better at opening her presents than at Christmas, but mostly she just wanted to play with the bows and use the boxes to help her stand up. At one point, one of the bows got stuck to her bum and it was so funny, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

These days Anna loves to cruise around, holding onto anything available to keep her on her feet. She especially likes holding onto Mom's legs. She's also become a very speedy crawler and she recently learned to clap and point. We've tried to train her to hold up her pointer finger when we ask her how old she is. If she's already pointing, she'll usually do it. If asked where her tongue is, and if she's in the right mood, she'll stick it out and wiggle it. She has also learned where her head is. Her favorite foods are refried beans, apples, cottage cheese, yogurt, and pasta with spaghetti sauce. I'm excited to see what she'll do with chocolate cake on Saturday. We're so glad she's a part of our family.

New Toy

This is why I am now keeping the tp on the counter, at least until we run out of the Charmin and start using the generic stuff. Charmin is just too soft to lose to the floor.

Running for the Worst Parent Award

All kidding aside, in one of my former jobs I became well acquainted with bad parents and I know I’m not one of them. Bad parents emotionally, physically, or sexually abuse their children, neglect them, take drugs, etc.

But sometimes I think I should be a bit more on top of things.

I’ll admit that sometimes I give Anna formula that’s been sitting out for a little longer than the one hour max listed on the container, which has led me to wonder at what point formula actually goes bad and what would happen if I gave her formula that had been sitting out for quite a bit longer than one hour. Last night I found out the hard way.

When she went down for her second nap yesterday, because she refused to take her morning nap, she was so tired that she didn’t quite finish her bottle before she fell asleep. A good mother would have immediately removed the bottle and washed it. But I was so anxious to get out of her room before she might stir and wake up, that I left her bottle in there. And then I forgot about it.

Several hours later when I was dressing Anna in her pjs, I set her fresh bottle down beside her crib. When we finally sat down in the rocking chair to finish the bottle, I didn’t see her fresh bottle by the crib and I picked up the old bottle instead, which looked a lot like her other bottle. After finishing that bottle, she was sleepy but she had acted like she might still be hungry. So when she started to cry again, we made her some more formula and Dan took it in to her. Normally at night, I just need to rock her once and she’ll go to sleep, but last night she was really fussy (maybe because she had just finished off a bottle of sour milk), but I thought she was just wound up. After she started crying again, I made her a few more ounces and went back in, which is when I noticed the other bottle and realized what had happened.

A few minutes after I put her down the third time, she started crying again, but this time I was determined to let her cry it out. After the crying became more agitated, I finally went into her room. She was standing up with barf all down the side of her sleep sack and even worse, I had forgotten to put her crib bar up, so she could have easily fallen out. I noticed the barf on her mattress and on her pajamas, but otherwise she looked clean, until she turned her head. One side of her head was plastered with sticky whiteness. Of course, when she’s physically sick, that’s when I not only forget to pull her crib bar up, but I also leave her covered in vomit and crying because I think she’s just a little fussy. Sheesh! In the end, she got a bath and another fresh bottle while her sheets and mattress pad were washed. And this time she went to sleep without any problems. All of this makes me even more grateful for the “mommas” and when she tries to crawl up my legs. And I'm glad that she seems to have a short memory.

Here Comes Trouble

The other day while I was checking my email, I turned around to see this:

I suppose that I am mostly to blame since we almost regularly practice climbing the stairs so that we can also practice sliding down the stairs on Anna's tummy. She still doesn't quite get the sliding down the stairs part, but she's getting pretty good at climbing the stairs. And she's getting even better at cruising around the living room. I guess it's the beginning of the end.

Not even 13

and she's already ratting her bangs! My guess is that the ratted bangs happen when she's asleep on her tummy and she rubs her head against the mattress.