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Holidays Are Done, A New Year |
Well,
the holidays are over. 2006 is over. And was I ever ready to turn my back on
the saddest year of my life.
The
holidays weren’t any more painful than every day is without
Margaret. I miss her more on
Saturday mornings when I still sometimes expect to hear the phone ring and then
hear her voice saying “Hey, what’s up?” But, in a world that
revolves around Christmas, it’s strange to on the outside of that hoopla. I was back in
On
Christmas, my parents took Annabelle to a potluck dinner with some of their
friends ….
….so
I found myself free for a few hours.
I
found an Indian restaurant open and then it was on to the TipTop
Lounge, a dive bar on the edge of town, where I met my friends Judi, Jamie and
Heidi who were all holidayed out from an overabundance of family time.
We
sat in one of the completely empty booths while the “locals” (they
all seemed to know each other) gathered at the bar for the traditional and
festive combo of MGD and Menthol Kools. There were depressing moments like when
a well dressed man stumbled out of a taxi (thank goodness) and into the bar
trying to buy a bottle of bourbon so he could “survive the [expletive]
holiday”. When the bartender
refused, he begged “give me anything, I’ll take
anything”. And I thought to
myself, “there are worse things that being a student working in your lab
today….”
Annabelle
had her 15 month well-baby checkup in January. She continues to sprout up. She weighs a whopping 21 lbs and is 30
inches. She ate her first pieces of
broccoli voluntarily, demonstrated healthy taste by loving my crockpot lentil soup, and had her first pasta dinner with
tomato sauce.
We’ve
started a new tradition on weekend mornings when we have time to lounge around.
I usually cook pancakes while Annabelle sits on the counter and we “chat” (it is
amazing how much she can communicate.
Annabelle
was referred to a pediatric eye specialist because she has a blocked tearduct. She will have surgery on February 22 to correct
that. It’s not a major surgery but does require general anesthesia so
that’s a bit scary. The doctor also said that Annabelle is quite
nearsighted and will likely need glasses by kindergarten. I wouldn’t have figured you could
tell nearsightedness on a baby. Oh, excuse me, on a Toddler.
Yes,
that’s right, Annabelle did move from the Infant room at daycare to the
Toddler one. She adjusted just fine
but I grew very emotional and weepy thinking “Oh how my little girl is
growing up.” The biggest
adjustment is that she now is supposed to sleep on a cot rather than in a
crib. Yeah, right. Not happening. If she is not corralled, she is NOT
going down. So she’s extra
sleepy at night these days.
Good
Morning Mom, look at me, I can run in my crib!
With
the (finally) arrival of cold weather here in Minneapolis, since my house is so
small, I’ve been searching
for things to do with Annabelle that tire her out and are also free of charge.
Normal parents take their kids to the zoo and museums, but I’m too cheap,
given that her attention span is about 20 minutes. So in the process we’ve discovered
a few unusual play areas.
+
Seestadts - a wholesale
carpet and remnant company in
+
The
Room & Board outlet warehouse.
This warehouse features marked down pieces from this very expensive home
furnishings shop. It’s got lots of couches for her to climb on and allows
me to look for the elusive perfect media center for my newly painted guest/TV
room.
+
IKEA. Annabelle loves the self serve section –wide
aisles, boxes to climb…
Speaking
of IKEA, it was the site of Annabelle’s first (among many to come) bloody
nose incident. I turned my back, she scrambled up on a wobbly box and splat! There was a lot of blood coming out her
little schnoze.
Of course I didn’t have a wipe or a tissue, so there I was wiping
up a lot of blood with a diaper. Very elegant.
Annabelle’s
vocabulary is expanding. Her #1 favorite word is doggie and #2 is book, which
she does with a rough approximation of the accompanying sign language. Her love of books just kicked in about a
month ago and now, the first request out of her mouth every morning is to read
a book.
Dec_Jan
07_files\loves book.avi
Stay
warm!! (Running is a good way to do
it according to Annabelle – see videoJ)
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