Monday, January 11, 2010

The Longest Month

     It's January. As of today, twenty unequivocally winter days still stretch out before us. January is such a looong month, in part because there is nothing specific to look forward to
     I think Jon's family has the right idea: they all get together for a ski-week during this most winter of months. And after that's over, why it's practically February. And February is a such a short month, speedily becoming March. And March is so hopeful; you can practically taste spring around the corner. Alas, Isaac and I are not skiing so all I see is January.
     I don't mean to be in a funk, but last week was quite difficult and it's going to take a day or two to emerge. Both kiddos were ill all last week, so we didn't go anywhere and no one came here. So, Anna missed her Fun Week: her first dance class, a visit to her grandparents, and a cousin's birthday party. This sadness was compounded by her asthma acting up, and the administration of her nebulizer. She's great at using the neb, but the medication induces a sort of borderline personality disorder. She's up and down and needy and cranky and spinning and sad and manic. So it was a rough week. In fact, it wasn't until Friday that I realized that, other than Jon and the doctor, I had not seen any adults all week. Worse, I hadn't even noticed.
     Enough self-pity. Here are the fantastic things that also happened:
First, Isaac learned to crawl up the stairs. All the stairs all at once. He's thrilled with this new skill, and I wish our baby gate could go lower than the fourth stair.
Second, Anna and I made cookies and buns. I love baking with her. She's so interested in measuring and feeling the ingredients and playing with the dough.
Third, I've enjoyed watching Isaac continue to explore his motor skills. He's firmly in pull-books-off-shelves and push-shopping-cart-around mode. About three weeks ago his crawling became lightning fast, so we spent the New Year's weekend baby proofing (better late than never) and setting up the baby barrier. The latter is basically a big fence set up in a circle, with rugs and blankets to make it soft, and a lot of his toys. Since I can never fully account for all of Anna's swallow-sized toys I wanted a place he could play in absolute safety. I want to emphasize that this is a LARGE space - I'm not talking pack 'n play size. He can do a good bit of cruising and crawling and exploring in there. But does he appreciate this? No. He cries unless someone is in there, playing with him. Too bad, kid. Momma's got to cook dinner.

2 comments:

  1. I love your humor amidst it all!!! And baking with one's kids? The best!!! I love it too--Alexander loves to help me make cookies as well.

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  2. You know, I've never lived anywhere cold long enough to really feel those January/February winter doldrums. I was only in CT for 3 years and here in TX, winter still has a good bit of novelty in January. By the time it warms up at the very beginning of March, you think, "Oh, is that over already?"

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