Low Key Day

The kid has been under the weather for the last couple of days. Started as a nasty cough that was joined yesterday by a fever. Thankfully that seems to have subsided as of early this morning, but she's been extra snuggly all day (no complaints here! Though it is slightly strange to "snuggle" a child when you're trying to go to the bathroom. I'm just saying.).

I was so thankful as I lay awake this morning at 3:30 after Anna woke up absolutely terrified and disoriented, begging me to turn the light on, that I didn't have to stress about missing work today. She had been talking in her sleep all night and I'm fairly sure she was having nightmares, which I don't think she's had before. We got a drink of milk and read some books and she was back asleep within about a half hour. She managed to sleep until right around 7:30, at which point we moved to the couch to snuggle. We just relaxed in our jammies most of the day, chugging fluids (since I'm now also feeling the tightness in my chest, lovely) and watching Sesame Street.

She still wanted to play, so we got out the blocks and crayons and just chilled on the living room floor watching our driveway and street out front fill up with snow. I sipped my coffee and she sipped her apple juice. Life is good.

**Note mostly to myself - it's been too long since I posted pictures. I will make my next post a picture post. Please feel free to harass me if I forget.

My Little Storyteller

Anna's imagination has literally exploded. All over my living room. She is a champion at pretend play - building block castles, cities and towers, which she then populates with her beanie babies, Fischer Price Little People and various other critters that have invaded my once-clean house. She makes up stories to go along with her play and frequently she tells those stories to me. However, there are only two story lines that she follows consistently (in some variation).

They are:

1. "Once upon a time there were THREE MON-SERS!!!! And one fall down he CRY!"

2. "God Jesus was borned and he gonna love us. All....Night!"


Her facial expressions and gestures while she's telling these stories make it more of a performance than a story. And she ends each story with "That's a good story, mama?"

Yes, honey. They are great stories. No matter how many times I hear them, because I think it's both sweet and amazing that she's beginning to be able to grasp the idea of storytelling and imagination.

Living the Dream

Well, here we are. Finally. I'm down to working two days a week and am spending the rest of my time home with Anna as I've been wishing and hoping to do for the past two and a half years. And you know what? It's as fun as I imagined it would be!

We spent this week taking down our Christmas decorations, organizing toys, books, closets, etc (wherever I can convince Anna to play for 10 minutes on her own, I try to clean or organize there at the same time).

We spent a good chunk of time at the library yesterday and then read tons of books when we got home. She's helped me cook. I've helped her color. And then there was the "Let's play doctor" incident where she tried to shove a cash register key into my ear to get the french fries out.

Yes, french fries. Apparently her McDonalds cash register-turned-x-ray scanner informed her that my ear was harboring delicious morsels and she decided to remove them with the little yellow plastic key.

Her bedside manner is SERIOUSLY lacking. I'll be seeing a new doctor next time a tasty treat mysteriously finds its way into one of my ears. For nearly an hour she shouted at me to "LAY DOWN ON THE FLOOR, DON'T WAGGLE (wiggle), DON'T LAUGH, DON'T TALK and LET ME SEE YOUR EARS...NOW!" Oh, and she forced me to wear a bowl over my face (I think it was meant to be a surgical mask). I'm still traumatized.

I've since caught her using her "x-ray" on both cats and Hubby. None of whom went running and screaming for the hills as I suggested they should. Suckers.