Go Mega Balance

Anna seems to have developed the best balance practically overnight. First, the history of his walking development. When we were in CA for Christmas, she took her first few steps. They were more like a prolonged fall but I say it counted. But then she only did them that one time. Then when we went back to CA, she started walking all over the place. Even across big rooms. But then she wouldn't walk when we got back to Philadelphia. I guess out tiny little apartment wasn't worth the effort. Then when we were visiting my brother last week, their big house and older kids running around made it worth the effort and she took off. I was mildly concerned that when we got home she would stop again but not so. Now she is walking all over the place.

She has even figured out how to stand up all on her own. She no longer has to hold onto anything to do it. As a corollary to that, she is able to bend down and pick things up! Providing it's not too heavy (not that that keeps her from trying). With these skills firmly in place, she has discovered the unending joy of carrying things around and putting them in rooms that they don't belong in.

I guess I now know what people mean when they say that your life changes forever when the baby learns to walk. After all, you can't carry things when you're crawling. At least not very big things. But while walking, you can carry such fun things as toys, balloons, remote controls, Mom's cell phone, anyone's shoes, oven mitts, all manner of things out of the recycling bag, spices and pretty much anything that isn't nailed down. I had to stop her from trying to pick up the hall rug. I am often pretty amazed at what she can carry (isn't too heavy for her). For example, my 1 L water bottle even when it is pretty full is fair game. She does have a hard time with our really big CD case but that doesn't stop her from trying.

Needless to say, my day is now filled with getting things out of rooms that they don't belong in and putting them back. At least that's what I do when Anna is asleep. There almost doesn't seem like much point while she is still awake and will just carry it off again. In spite of the frustrations, it is really cute to see her walk around with things in her hands. Usually it's two completely unrelated things, one in each hand, like a wooden spoon and a remote. Or a book and a jar of spices. Fortunately, our place isn't too big and I can usually find the things I need.

Lessons Learned

Last week, was quite a week for me. Rather than talk about what I did, I'm going to try to put a finger on what I learned.

-Moms need to take care of themselves so they can take care of their family. So often, we as women put ourselves on the back burner thinking it is more important to care for other people. What we don't realize is that when we do that, we are doing everyone a disservice. We cannot care for others if we are not ok ourselves.

-The power of humility. With life's ups and downs, we tend to think we can handle things ourselves or with us and the Lord. Sometimes, there are things we can't do ourselves and when we find ourselves in that position, we need to have the humility to reach out to those we love or even to professionals and ask for help.

-When we do that, those we love are concerned and want to help.

-It is important to finish the things we start. When we don't, we run around and around but don't accomplish anything. Plus, when things are finished, we receive piece of mind.

-Avoiding things we don't want to do doesn't help. Whatever we are avoiding will still be there when we return and it is usually worse because of the delay.

-Anna takes better naps when it is dark.

If I'm really lucky, I'll actually be able to remember and apply these lessons.

Development

Sometimes, as parents, we worry about our child's development. I try not to worry too much and figure she's probably just fine but even I have the occasional concern. Why isn't she talking yet? Are those supposed to be words? Why can't she point out her nose? Does she even know what it is? She walked all the time in CA, why won't she at home? Is she eating enough? Is it strange that she tries to pull up on buttons rather than push them? And on and on.

It doesn't help that we left our What to Expect the First Year book in India and haven't been to a doctor since before we left (long story). I try to covertly gauge her development on other kids around us but we all know that's usually a bad idea.

Fortunately, on the plane ride home from CA (which she did very well on) something happened to help me feel better. Anna walked up and down the aisle several times so that we got to know a lot of people on the plane (such a social butterfly). When we weren't walking, I was letting her play with a Pringles can. She figured out how to open it with her teeth and was working on trying to close it. I don't think she was able to fully close it on her own but got pretty close. Well, a guy who was sitting near us happened to be a doctor (not a pediatrician, a kidney doctor but still) and wanted to guess how old she was. He thought about it for a while and said that based on her fine motor skills, he guessed 15 to 18 months.

I worry sometimes that she doesn't play with enough toys and is behind somehow. Often times, she doesn't really know what to do with them when she does play with them. So even if he was rounding up to make me feel better, I guess she is learning all that she needs to and I don't have to worry about it so much.

A New Look

As you can see, I changed my blog's look. And let me tell you, it was harder than you would think to chose something then to change the colors of the fonts to have it all match. For the background, I went to a website called The Cutest Blog on the Block where I got the previous one too. They have lots of free backgrounds along with the option to have one made specifically for you for a fee. It took so long to choose something because not only were there lots of options (and I'm the kind of person who has to see what all the options are before I decide on one) but also, they were all so cute. And not in a good way.

Now don't get me wrong, I like cute things as much as the next girl but I'm not into scrapbooking (I'm more of a slip it in the pocket and maybe write a caption kind of girl) and these were very scrapbooky. Plus, with the title of the blog, I do try to have a vaguely urban feel to it. The black and white of last time was pretty much the closest they had to sleek (what I was going for). This time, I was thinking of something bold and bright that could pass for an Ikea Fabric. I realize I could probably find a different website for more backgrounds but then we get into too many options.

Then was the added problem of not choosing something that anyone else I know has and it had to look good with my city skyline picture. This all added up to a bit of a tall order. I'm starting to understand how my sister, Kristen, feels. She has the gift/curse of knowing exactly what she wants. Everything from clothes to home decor to food she can picture what would be perfect then has the daunting tasking of going out to find it. I remember once, when she was living at home, she was hungry and wanted something "fruity and foamy and frothy and icy and light". As this was before Jamba Juice, I think she decided on an orange julius.

Like Magic

I am not that careful with keeping Anna's clothes clean. She's a fairly neat eater so I've been known to not even put a bib on her if what she is eating isn't particularly messy. Even if it is, I may just push up her sleeves rather than roll them up and inevitably they fall down at some point in the meal. Fortunately for me (or for her so she isn't always wearing stained clothes) there is spray and wash (or shout or the like). I have decided this is practically magic the way it works.

The other day, we were at Target. It was around lunch time so I got some food including a drink of Hawaiian Punch. Anna drinks from a straw pretty well so I was trying to give her some out of the full cup with a short straw. Naturally, she ended up with Hawaiian Punch on her shirt (apparently even when you think the lids are on tight, they aren't). I was bummed because I liked that shirt and was afraid I would have to toss it (this wasn't a small amount off to the side, it was two big stains front and center). I figured I would try spray and wash the next time I did laundry which happened to be the next day. To my surprise and delight, it all came out!

Then while we were in California, we were all eating dinner and I unthinkingly gave Anna a tube of Crystal Light with a small container in it to play with. I figured she would like the way it rattled. Well I forget that she is as old as she is and can open containers like that. It didn't take her long to get the little container out of the larger one and use her oh so helpful teeth to find out what was inside (I also forget about the damage those little teeth can do). Next thing you know, she is having a ball with the dark red , super concentrated powder. We tried to rinse it out as best we could right there but once water hits that stuff, it just seems to get worse. I was sad, again, because I really liked that shirt, again (see picture). This time I used Shout when I washed it and you can't see it at all on the yellow stripes. You can kind of tell if you already know it's there on some of the other stripes but not enough to worry about. Yeah for stripes.

I feel like I'm writing a testimonial for a commercial but seriously, how did parents manage before? I guess either they were constantly replacing clothes, dressing their kids in stains or only feeding them (or even keeping in the house) non-staining foods. Oh the things you can do with cauliflower. I like this way much better.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tonight Mom and I went to see my brother Ben's play. A bit of background. Ben is in school to be an actor. He is currently in his last year at a well known acting conservatory, called PCPA, that is about 45 minutes away from where my parents live. As it is a two year program, he will come out of it with a certificate which is appreciated in the theater community but is applying to schools to get a BFA for starting in the fall. The school does performances where usually the teachers are the leads and the students get the smaller and ensemble parts. Ben has been blessed and lucky to be a number of different productions while he has been there. Right now, he has been able to get the part of Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream which is a big deal. To brag about him for a bit, after this they will be doing Les Miserables and he will be in the ensemble and understudy Javert.

Back to this evening. Last night and tonight were preview nights and it offically opens tomorrow. So this evening, as my last evening in CA, my mom took me to go see it. It was great!


The theme was Bollywood meets Cirque de Soleil. Everyone wore Indian clothes and the fairies were blue and juggled. It even opened and closed with Puck upside down on a rope (We have a grease man - Ocean's 11). The set was very simple yet effective with two green platforms that primarily the fairies climbed up on.

The mechanicals' play at the end was HILARIOUS. In the past, they had always seemed more like bumbling idiots to me and not that funny to watch but these ones did well.

Ben is the one in the light colored tunic to the right.

Then they did a big Bollywood-style dance number complete with shiny confetti coming from the top. For some reason, it was really funny to see them all dance like that. More so than when Indians dance like that.


It was strange though because that felt like the end but then there was a fairy dance number but this one was slow. Then there was the last part with puck on the rope again. The three endings like that was awkward but oh well. All in all it was a great night.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Anna and I are now in California to get away from our apartment while Jason is gone. It seems to be a good thing we did too because Anna was already starting to miss Jason and it was only a couple of days. Being here, though, she doesn't seem to mind. I guess the different place and all the cousins to play with is helping to distract her.

But getting here required 10 hours of travel with just me and her. I was a little nervous about it because every other time we flew, Jason was with us or she was much younger and not nearly as active. Fortunately, it was the best possible flight I could have hoped for. The first part was from Philadelphia to Phoenix which is about 5 hours. Initially, we were in the middle seat with people on either side of us. I was worried even though the people seemed nice. In looking around, I saw a row that only had one guy in it and was thinking about asking the flight attendants about moving there when one of them offered it to me once we got in the air. She even told the guy not to let anyone else sit there because it was for us.

Once we got in the air, we moved and not only did we then have an extra seat for her to sit in (which she enjoyed) but the guy we were sitting with was great. His name is Matt and he has three kids of his own (10 to 4). Naturally Anna liked him and he seemed to like her too. They would play together, he shared his headphones and even put a movie on his laptop for her (she didn't watch it but still). Basically a great seatmate. Anna took a nap, we walked up and down the aisle and played with the flight attendants in the galley. So even though it was still a long flight, it was doable.

Then we had a three hour layover in Phoenix. I was worried about this part too (obviously I chose the flight based on price rather than schedule) but it turned out ok. I think it was good to have some time outside of the plane. We had lunch and enjoyed a little play area while I talked on the phone to a friend of mine. I had brought the stroller with me so we were able to walk up and down the long concourse and Anna got another nap. And even though our flight was delayed, we had fun playing with some other people in the waiting area including another baby.

The last flight was an hour and a half. By this time, I was getting pretty tired (especially since I got up at 5 am to do all of this) and was a bit less patient with her wiggles and she was getting tired of being in planes. There weren't any open seats this time but the woman accross the aisle from us (who has two kids, 9 and 7) played with her almost the whole time. Then we visited the flight attendant and next thing I knew, we were beginning our descent. It was the shortest hour and a half flight ever.