More Adventures with Anne / Parenting

* Anne drank from a regular cup (no sippy lid) for the first time last night.  She did great as long as she was drinking.  Mastering putting the cup down without dumping all the water everywhere will apparently come later.

* Anne's eating habits have gotten progressively pickier.  She will eat any fruit I put in front of her, but she hasn't been as keen on vegetables lately.  She loves sausage, I think probably because it's soft and easy for her to chew.  I'm hoping the pickiness is a phase.  I'm sure my friends who thought I was nuts when we decided to do Baby Led Weaning are laughing at me.  Oh well, it was worth a shot, right?  I still like that she feeds herself even if the mess does make me want to scream sometimes.  And I'm still hoping we will succeed in steering clear of the typical "chicken nuggets" kid diet.

* She's walking all over the place now, and with soft soled shoes.  It's crazy how fast they learn balance.  She can stand herself up in the middle of the room, while picking up an object in each hand.  It amazes me to watch her.

* I'm really enjoying "teaching" in the nursery at church.  I really do love babies, and it's super easy.  Much easier than I expected.  I guess new things just make me nervous in general, but I'm glad I decided to do it.  Will probably do more rotations in there even after Anne moves up to the next class.  I miss the sermons and worship, but the babies are so cute!

* I saw an example of the kind of parent I DON'T want to be the other day.  I was in the process of getting Anne out of the car at the grocery store, and the mom next to me was loading groceries into the back of her CRV.  She had two little boys, probably around the ages of 6-8 or so, who were trying to help her.  It caught my attention because she snapped at her son.  Conversation went something like this:

Mom:  "NO! Those don't go THERE!  Stop, just stop and GET IN THE CAR."
Boy:  "But, Mom, we're just trying to help you!!!"  (clearly has feelings hurt and is upset)
Mom:  "Well, you're NOT helping.  Just get in the car!!"

It was all I could do not to ask her son to help *me* instead, I could have used an extra pair of hands right then.  Now, I realize maybe this Mom isn't always like this, maybe she was just in a hurry, maybe the boys had already gotten on her last nerve, maybe she apologized for being so mean after they got in the car; I'm not trying to be judgmental, everyone has bad days.  But if you take the situation on its face, I really hope I never treat Anne like that.  The  mom could have found a way for her son to help that wouldn't have been in her way (hand the groceries directly to her instead?) and then the boy could have helped (a good and valuable thing to do) and would have prevented his mom yelling at him.

* On the other hand, my friend Heather let her 4 (?) year old son help her push the stroller carrying his baby sister into the church on Sunday and I thought that was pretty awesome :-D

* Anne's birthday party is Saturday.  I'm about 1/2 ready, at least shopping-wise.  I still need to clean the house, buy food, and cook.  Good thing Caitlin is coming over Friday night to help me!  Also, maybe since my Dad will be at our house he can help me watch Anne so I can clean.  I *might* have gone a little crazy with this party.  I've promised Kristian that for at least the next 2 years we're only doing something small with family.