Saturday at the office
Saturday, December 30th, 2006Another 2 day post for me. Sorry I can’t seem to get to the computer every night anymore.
Yesterday was another day off for me, so we started out leisurely, sleeping in, and completely frittering away the morning, as we are wont to do. Joe had a Border’s reward certificate of a significant amount, so we headed down to W. Lebanon, NH, to spend it. We had lunch first, and Anna charmed the pants off of an elderly couple sitting near us, grinning and waving, cooing, the works. Maybe she just likes old people. Anyway, she was a pill for Joe at the bookstore. She didn’t want to ride in her stroller, she didn’t want to be carried, she just wanted to run around and rearrange books, etc. He was pretty frustrated by the time he ran across me, and she just threw herself out of her stroller into my arms. She didn’t behave any better for me, but I guess she was as tired of him as he was of her. Next we went to Kohls, and Joe did a few laps of the store with her. She was pretty amusing, doing a strip tease act most of the time. At one point she managed to get her pants halfway down and her overshirt off, all while strapped in the stroller. This from the little girl who can’t figure out how to undo Dressy Bessy’s big buttons. Finally he just let her out so she could run around. She ran back and forth from him to me, picking up miscellaneous bits of paper, counting “one”, “two”, and generally being cute. Joe didn’t think she was so cute, but I was just so thrilled she was willfully interacting with me, I didn’t care. After a late dinner at home, Joe said she slept straight through the night for once.
Today, I worked in the AM, and Joe had to come in to help Renee do payroll and get the year-end tax checks written, etc. Anna had to come along, of course, and she keeps one of us occupied full-time. After that was done, we decided that since we were out anyway, we might as well fix a few things up at the clinic. I went out and did a little grocery shopping and picked up a few supplies while Joe had Anna napping at the clinic. Then I took over the babysitting while he worked on the plumbing and the dryer a bit. I think Anna spent more time in time-out than out of it today. Between Renee leaving, and then Joe running in and out, she was distraught most of the time. But we survived, and I’ve got her in the baby carrier this evening as I type, trying to calm her down enough for sleep. She’s sort of whining herself to sleep right now.
Joe’s a bit frustrated with her right now. He thinks she’s backtracked to her China days since the family left, but I think she’s just coming out of her shell more. She’s not showing such an obvious preference for Joe anymore, which means she is occasionally showing a preference for me. I’m not complaining. The psychology of what she’s been through is so complicated, I could spend years trying to figure out what’s going through her little brain, and why she’s reacting to each situation as she does, but I’ve about decided it doesn’t really make any difference what the reasons are. We just have to roll with the punches and keep our responses to her loving and consistent. and I’m pretty sure it will all work out.
It was really cold yesterday (single digits) so I made Anna wear a cap. She was awfully cute, but she couldn’t see. Fortunately, she wasn’t required to walk anywhere. We all know fashion triumphs over function any day.
Here’s my little movie star, modeling her shades.
She was still in the “strip to my diaper” phase when we got home. It was so silly that Joe and I thought we’d play along, so we all took our pants off and stood in our chairs. She thought that was pretty cool.