As much as I hate to hear the little fusses or yelps that Anna has sometimes made as I left her in her crib to go to sleep, her recent behavior seriously pulls at my heartstrings and yet it is so wonderful at the same time. For the past few days, as I take Anna to put her in her crib, she pushes off from looking over my should so she can look right at me and get my attention and she just starts giving me tons of open-mouth wet kisses. In the past I've always told her "good-night," "sleep well," "I'll see you when you get up," but without too much eye contact and just sneak out. Now as I put her down she's intent on continuing to look right at my face with her arms outreached for a hug as she stays in a kneeling or standing position. Now I'm forced to look right at her sad, desperate face as she attempts to keep kissing me and begging me to pick her up again. Instead of my previous 3 short phrases I find myself repeating "I love you's" and "sleep well's" as I try to move her arms into the crib, give her one last hug, and leave her. It's both so hard, and so amazing because I feel like she finally understands that we're saying some kind of "good-night" to each other. I'm sure there will be many more phases in our good-night routine, but this change makes her seem so much more of a little girl to me.
Along those same lines, Anna has recently been having fun with "fun" activities. Of course Anna has found her own fun for months, but only recently is she starting to get "traditionally fun" activities - like a playground or a zoo! While Anna laughs and smiles a lot around the house, she is often more timid in strange places. Since November, when we took her to a park for the first time, we've been taking her to a number of different parks to go on swings and slides. Matt & I always got real excited about it, but Anna has always been, well, subdued...until Thursday. On Thursday we met another mom & two kids at an indoor playground and for the first time Anna seriously seemed to enjoy playground activities - like going down a slide. She can't go down the regular way yet because she just falls backwards, but she can go down with another person or feet first on her belly - both elicited big smiles! Then today Anna visited both the zoo and another playground, where she was excited to see the animals, fussed upon leaving various animal exhibits, and giggled profusely while going on a swing. It sure is fun when you take your child to an activity and it's not just you & your spouse giggling on the slide :)
Along those same lines, Anna has recently been having fun with "fun" activities. Of course Anna has found her own fun for months, but only recently is she starting to get "traditionally fun" activities - like a playground or a zoo! While Anna laughs and smiles a lot around the house, she is often more timid in strange places. Since November, when we took her to a park for the first time, we've been taking her to a number of different parks to go on swings and slides. Matt & I always got real excited about it, but Anna has always been, well, subdued...until Thursday. On Thursday we met another mom & two kids at an indoor playground and for the first time Anna seriously seemed to enjoy playground activities - like going down a slide. She can't go down the regular way yet because she just falls backwards, but she can go down with another person or feet first on her belly - both elicited big smiles! Then today Anna visited both the zoo and another playground, where she was excited to see the animals, fussed upon leaving various animal exhibits, and giggled profusely while going on a swing. It sure is fun when you take your child to an activity and it's not just you & your spouse giggling on the slide :)
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