Day 199

She's sleeping now with her feet up in the air. She fights sleep these days, sits bolt upright on my lap from a deep swoon, eyes drooping, cranes her neck to take just one more look at the day. Today for the first time she pushed herself up to sitting on her own. Then sat there surprised, kicking her feet and chewing on the rubber piggy her daddy got her upstate. She gets longer and stronger and stronger and sweeter each day. She's got a tiny sheen of pale fuzz growing on her head. She wants to crawl so badly it makes her cry sometimes. From over here, across the room, I hear her take a breath and sigh down into a deeper sleep. Her legs now splayed, belly rising and falling, rising and falling.

child as young purple hippo

girl backs self into corner

Saturday at the Park

Eight Things

I've been tagged by Nicole! What can I do but play?

Eight Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1)Summer days spent almost entirely outside.
2)Having a baby-proofed apartment.
3)Riding my bike as fast as I can.
4)Sharing Anna with all the many branches of her big family tree.
5)Seeing the ladies and babies at mom's group today.
6)Watching Anna become more who she is all the time.
7)Eating the amazing pizza I betcha Paul's going to make this weekend.
8)All the years of marriage ahead of us.

Eight Things I Did Yesterday
1) Watched Anna make faces about her rice cereal - it went over MUCH better than the bananas. First lesson in child liking what she likes rather than what I think she'll like.
2) Dreamed about monarchs coming out of almost-black irises in Sandy Bee's garden from a million years ago.
3)Marveled at Anna's three-hour morning nap. Almost woke her up because she never sleeps that long. Didn't, which was definitely the right move.
4) Enjoyed tutoring two great little girls, thought about all the things there are to look forward to with Anna: roller skates, favorite books, secret notes. . .
5)Came home to find Anna blissfully asleep in the tub with her Daddy.
6) Shared a mango with Paul.
7) Read about street calming in ancient Pompeii.
8) Watched Anna watch the trees moving.

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do
1) Run like a kid.
2) Protect Anna from every bad thing: bees, cars, mean girls, heart-breakers, etc.
3) I agree with Nicole - slowing things down a little sounds good!
4) Spend more time in the country.
5) See family more often.
6) Take Anna to Cape Town to hear the noon gun and see the clouds falling off the edge of Table Mountain and smell the fynbos and the salty dust.
7) Get some uninterrupted sleep.
8) Play the fiddle.

Eight Shows I Watch
1) We kicked the TV to the curb about a year ago. . .

Eight Bloggers I am Tagging:
1) Don't think I know eight bloggers! Maybe you dear readers can write back with your lists of eights? Or start blogs so I can tag you?

The Girl Who Plays Hard . . .

Rests hard. . .

Six Months Old!

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Anna's workout routine begins. . .


Plank pose . . .


Push ups. . .


And then, a relaxing afternoon in the park with sweet Nicole and Eva Jane.

Six months old!!!!!

Anna's First Bananas: a Story in Pictures

Museum Wednesday

We went to the Brooklyn Museum. We saw a room ribboned in black masking tape waves, and another room with walls of water. We saw half-hulls of sailboats in minature, and paintings of light reflecting off the rain collected in the cracks between cobblestones. She looked around wide-eyed as usual. It was a good day.

Mother"s Day #1 in Prospect Park

pre-crawl

Minnesota