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A Haystack, A Pumpkin and A LadyBug
Costume |
October
October
started out beautifully. We had Indian Summer days
until the 2nd week of October, with weather in the 70s.
--Midwest
Farm Life-- The first weekend in
October, I decided to get Annabelle introduced to her Midwestern roots by
taking her to a tourist farm – one of those places that let you pick your
own apples and pumpkins (because that’s how we city folks get back to
nature). Well, as un-authentic as
it was, we had a blast. Annabelle
was thrilled with the haystacks and the piggies. I was thrilled with the wine in my
thermos. We went on a hayride,
climbed a haystack, petted piggies and cows
(accompanied by my long winded explanations about why we don’t kill these
animals to eat them to which Annabelle’s response was a deeply thought
out “ga”. I’m sure she got the point. J)
And
I got simply the cutest photos of baby girl.
Prettiest
girl in hay
Belly
& Ellie
The
Haugens
A
daredevil hayride
--The
Artiste --
Annabelle’s daycare has started her career as an
artiste. Every week I get a new
finger painting or handprint decoration.
These have begun to adorn our house, turning it into a fine art gallery!
In
the middle of October we experienced something called Baby Loves Disco. The concept is to take over a nightclub
in the afternoon, throw in a hip DJ who plays rockin
adult disco tunes and babyproof the place. And let
all hell and diapered patrons loose.
Here’s the video.
--
Daylight savings time -- I know
that my fellow parents will continue in their desire to lynch me as I tell you
that the switch in daylight savings time meant the following for Annabelle: she
refused to switch to a later bedtime, so her 6:30 bedtime became 5:30. And she cheerfully just added another
hour to her already healthy nighttime sleep by still waking up at 7:00am. Now, the only downside is that I feel
like I never see her. I leave work a little early, take her home, throw her in
the highchair and then the bath and then she’s rubbing her eyes by
5:15.
Each
night before bed I read Annabelle a story. Morrisey
always joins us for this. Well, it
happened that I read Sandra Boynton’s “Doggies” book one
night. You can see what
happened…. Oct_Nov
06_files\Story Time.mpg
--
Halloween --
I’ll end the suspense.
Annabelle was a ladybug for Halloween. How did I make this difficult selection
between the ducky, the chicken and the ballerina costumes? Well, very scientifically. I held up 3 different costumes in front
of Annabelle and selected the one she grabbed and stuffed into her mouth.
My
excuse for my six week delay in posting this entry is that the person who got
the best pictures of Annabelle in her costume never sent them to me. I kept
waiting and waiting. So finally I
have decided to just include mine.
They are amusing. Annabelle was definitely ready to move, not sit still.
What
is up with this costume?
This
blows!
I’m
SO outta here
Free
at last
Animal
Girls
Halloween
itself was chilly chilly chilly
so we hit about 3 or 4 houses, just to show off the costume and then headed
home to snuggle in.
Unfortunately, the cold kept away even the larger trick-or-treaters,
leaving me with a large pile of kit-kats and
snickers. Don’t worry, gentle
readers. I did my bit for starving people by eating each and every candy bar
over the course of about a week.
November
Well,
of course, given that I’d eaten every candy bar under the sun in October,
November was distinguished mainly by Mom not fitting into her skirts. Dear god, will I be reduced to elastic
waistbands? Why don’t I buy a
minivan and just get the decline over with?
Oh,
yes, you are actually more interested in my child’s development, not my
waistline development.
So
November started on an exciting and terrifying note with Annabelle’s
first steps. It came on gradually
so that I didn’t even realize what was happening. At first it was just
the gentle pulling up of girl on my pants legs. Then there was the infatuation with a
little push wagon. Pretty soon she
was doing loopdiloops around my little house pushing
the wagon. And then, there it
was. I looked up,
she was taking steps with no wagon in sight. Fast forward 3 weeks later and
she’s a walking fool. She
still has a lot of stumbles, mainly related to Morrisey’s
enthusiastic greetings. But we take
walks of ½ a block or so with her holding my hand and with a smile a
mile wide as she ambles along.
And
here’s a action shot of her prodigious walking
skills: Oct_Nov
06_files\Walking Fool.mpg
November
also brought the stairs. She goes
up. She comes down. Then she goes up again. Then she comes down. Then she stops halfway and forgets what
direction she was going.
Annabelle
and I became famous at Target for a day or two when we were featured front and
center on the internal home page and our internal magazine because November in
National Adoption Month, which Target supports.
--
Aging -- November also heralded birthdays for my mom and myself. My mom and dad came to visit on my
Mom’s birthday and while sitting outside my house, with Annabelle in the
car, another car ran into my mom’s car. If she’d gotten out only a
second later, it would have been a catastrophe. As it was, they had to turn around the
same day and head back to
After
the car crash – everyone is OKAY!!!
--
disease --
November into December has also brought the plague. At least I think it’s the
plague. It might be Ebola. Or the Hanta virus. Or perhaps it’s Lassa fever (from
my friendly kitchen mouse). I have
not been so sick in years.
Annabelle is just a constant drip machine. I was out of work for 3 or 4 days over
the last few weeks, just feeling deathly.
When I would drag my butt to work, people would get a look or a listen
at me and refuse to sit in meetings with me. I began to assign conference call
numbers for meetings just around the corner from me so I could call in from my
desk. Then, just as I began to
mend, Annabelle got sent home from daycare with a fever, which kept me out
another 2 days. I heard about the
whole sick child-sick parent thing. I just never imagined it would be this bad.
I’m surprised my boss hasn’t put me on disability pay. It’s been brutal.
December
--
Marvel -- December brought a new friend into our house. His name is Marvel the Wonder Horse and
he showed up courtesy of my greatest friend Jill.
Marvel
is a horse that toddlers can ride and if they are the right size, move
themselves in a galloping motion.
Annabelle unfortunately is not the right size. But she loves Marvel beyond all reason. So she hangs on Marvel until I lift her
onto his saddle. Then, with her little face beaming, she looks up at me and
not-so-subtly begins to bounce and rock.
This is my signal to grab Marvel’s reins and pull him, and her,
round and around and around the house racetrack. And around and around
and around. I could do this
for six hours and I don’t think it would be enough. Oh how it makes me long for the days I
could plop her down with a rattle and she’d be amused.
Marvel’s
marvelous journey is complicated by the fact that my already tiny little house
was rearranged (fancy word for “crammed”) in November to accommodate
the gated community in the dining room.
So
now there is NO space to walk or move.
Even Morrisey has to climb through the dining
chairs (which are pushed against a radiator) to get to her dog door. So every time we make a Marvel-lous trip, I have to rearrange much of the gated community.
Jill, thanks for the wonderful gift. Hurry up
and have kids so I can return the favor!!! J
My
parents and I have decided that we will not celebrate Christmas in any obvious
way this year. Last year at
Christmas we were all together at my house and it was the last time my folks
saw Margaret. (I saw her for about 10 minutes in February in
Well,
that’s the lengthy update. Sorry it was so late. Have a happy holiday season
everyone.
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