Milestones/Satisfaction

Anja has been reaching some very important cognitive milestones lately. She really likes boxes and she's learning how much fun it can be to put things INSIDE a box. She finds the whole idea very amusing. But even better is that her interest in the toilet is rapidly growing! She's always liked to lift the lid and look in at the water, and she used to really enjoy eating toilet paper, but lucky for us, that phase didn't last long. But today she finally did it--she threw her first toy into the toilet! I was so proud of her! It wasn't actually a toy at all, it was one of these hair bands that she's been carrying around with her since Christmastime. She also likes to pick off bits of toilet paper (very, very tiny bits) and put those in the toilet too. The other day I was in the shower and I kept hearing the toilet lid shut. I looked out, and that's what she was doing. Picking a piece of toilet paper veeerrrryyy carefully, then lifting the lid a tiny bit, and dropping the paper in. Repeat! Hahaha, she's so cute. Also, she's becoming quite the little helper. She likes to throw away her dirty diapers, hold the lid to the catfood tin while I feed Theodore then put it back on, hold the tops of her bottles while I fill them then put them back on, and last night she was being very helpful up here at my parents' house after dinner but "loading" the dishwasher. I'm sure she thought she was being so helpful by taking out all the dirty silverware from the little plastic basket and holding it out, piece by piece, for the dog to lick clean. Then she put it on the floor. In the end, she did put them back in the dishwasher, but she missed the basket every time and they fell through the holes to the bottom of the dishwasher. But I think she kind of gets it! And it's really cute.

Martin has one particular pocket knife that is very special to him because his third grade teacher gave it to him. It's a really nice, perfectly sized Opinel knife and he's carried it for years and years. However, he's not very good about keeping track of it and it often gets lost in pants pockets and misplaced on weird shelves or dresser tops. One time as he was leaving my apartment and getting his keys out of his pocket, it fell out and into my driveway and he didn't notice, but luckily I did. Finally, he decided it was time to retire the knife as an every day tool and replace it with something that held no sentimental value. We went to Target and he got a very slim Swiss Army knife. It has only a few (I think more than one, but not many) blades on it, and it's about the same size as the Opinel. He is so satisfied with it! He takes it out of his pocket every night and says, "Isn't this a great knife? It's perfect." And if it ever gets lost, it can be easily replaced.

We are at my parents house this morning because I drove Martin to work and was going to go to the doctors office from there to take that weird glucose test. I was supposed to take it at my last appointment, but totally forgot. My doctor said it was no big deal, just come back sometime after Christmas. Um... so I've kind of been putting it off for a long time and now my next appointment is coming up next week! Whoops! This morning I was going to leave Anja with my mom and go to the appointment by myself, but the roads were reeeaaaalllyyy bad when we were driving out to Ivy Tech to drop Martin off. We were sliding and had a very hard time making it up South Street hill. On the way up, he asked me to cancel my appointment and just hole up somewhere out here on the South end so I wouldn't have to go back down the big hills to downtown. He's so funny and such a worrier! There wasn't really any appointment to cancel; I just can go in anytime and tomorrow is as good as today. So now I'm up here at my mom's, and it's Anja's naptime but she isn't used to sleeping anywhere but her own room so I think we're going to have to try to go home in a few minutes even though it's still snowing.

Gosh, you'd think I'd have more to say after being weeks without internet. But really we've been living a very quiet winter life. In the morning we play. During naptime I do housework. In the afternoon we play some more. Much like Anne, the other morning Anja was still in her jammies and we were just playing in the front room while I fed her breakfast. Martin bundled himself up and went out to wait for the bus, and there we were, cozy as kittens in our lovely living room. No obligations for the day, not a care in the world, just hanging out, drinking coffee (me) and eating Cheerios (Anja.) It was great! But it doesn't make for such an exciting blog.

Last night Martin worked at the Bookstore until 10:00. Anja fell asleep at 6:45 in the car (I wasn't intending to drive her to sleep, but she just zonked) and slept for an amazing and unusual 5 hour stretch! I came home intending to do so much--clean the bathroom, do some laundry, put clean clothes away, and make some Challah bread with my new mixer--and instead, after I picked up the living room and switched out the laundry, I put on an XL long-sleeved tshirt, cuddled up in a quilt on the couch and read my chick lit book. FOR TWO HOURS. I cannot remember the last time I had a chance to just lay on the couch for two hours and read. It was amazing. I loved it! And I can't believe Anja slept all that time!!! Unfortunately, she woke up after five hours (right after Martin and I had gone to bed) and had a difficult rest of the night. But that's okay! Two hours reading on the couch by myself was totally worth it. When Martin got home at 10:30 I had a hot dinner for him of honey-bbq wings--except they were absolutely disgusting. They'd been in the crock pot and I guess they were in for too long because they were all burned and I don't think the sauce was a very good recipe anyway. Too much soy sauce for honey wings, in my opinion. I felt bad--I would've made something else instead of vegging out on the couch if I had known they were so inedible.

Right now my mom is trying to put Anja to sleep. Anja has never gone to sleep with anyone but me. In her life. I'm trying not to interfere because it's really important that Anja get used to other people before, oh, March 20th or so. However, it's really hard for me. I keep hearing her little whimpers and I feel bad that my mom is spending her time pacing my baby around while I sit here and mess around on the internet. BTW, that's Anja whimpering, not my mom. If my mom were whimpering, I think I would step in.

Letsee, what else. Well, speaking of March 20th, have I mentioned how ENORMOUS I am? Seriously huge. And this morning I think I discovered some stretch marks on my butt. That is baaaad news. I was spoiled with Anja--I had no stretch marks at all, anywhere. And I realize that since I am not a nudist, stretch marks on my butt aren't so bad. But STILL. They'll be there forever! I'm marked for life. I might as well get a tattoo as well. Anyway, I will be absolutely shocked if this baby is a girl. I feel so strongly that it's a boy. I did not feel this strongly about Anja being a boy. It's funny though--I can't imagine this baby as a girl, and Martin can't imagine it as anything other than a girl!! He's absolutely certain it's another girl. It'll be fun to see who's right!

Speaking of Martin and baby girls... yesterday he took his lunch break with me and Anja at Barnes & Noble. He had a coupon for a buy one, get one free drink at the cafe, so that's what we did. Well, they sell Melissa & Doug toys there now, and Anja spotted them. She saw the chunky puzzle of the barnyard animals and stared saying, "horse, horse, horse" ("doo, doo, doo") so Martin went to show her the puzzle. Then he let her bring it back to the table with her. Then he said, "She doesn't have this puzzle at home, does she?" And then he bought it for her!! He's so funny. She did love it though--she held onto the horse piece all the way home.

Anja loves animals. When we play in her bedroom with the door shut, Theodore usually comes scratching after a little bit. I'll say, "Someone's at the door! Who do you think it is?" and she gets VERY EXCITED. When I open the door, she gets even more excited, and usually mauls Theodore with hugs and kisses right away. So the other night, Martin was coming in the front door when we were in the living room. I said, "Anja! Someone's at the door! Who do you think it is?" and she got VERY VERY EXCITED. However, when the door opened and Martin stepped in, her smile completely disappeared and she just stared at him with no expression at all. It was like she was disappointed that the person at the door had been an actual person--her own daddy--and not a cat.

OH MY GOSH!!!! MY MOM GOT ANJA TO SLEEP!!!!!! Talk about milestones!!!!! Wow, what a relief this is. She's asleep on the living room floor right now with some quilts. She's so cute. She is wearing a red knit poncho today and she looks hilarious.

Whew! What a relief. That is one checkmark off the list of things to do before the new baby comes: teach Anja to fall asleep with someone other than me. Hooray!