bye-bye naps

For the last couple if weekends, Ana has been skipping her naps in the afternoons.

And, according to her care-giver, she seems very reluctant to take a nap during weekdays as well.

However, since all the toddlers at the daycare are settled in for their nap time, Ana manges to stay down on her cot for the quiet time, even if she doesn't fall asleep.

So, we have started giving her quiet time on weekends as well. Except, she wants her books in her crib, and a few of her toys. She screams her lungs out if we don't give her the books, and since I like to curl up with a book in bed, i am more than happy to give her a few of her favorite board books and settle her in her crib.

However, the purpose seems to be sort of defeated: she "reads" the books out loud, sings songs with her toys, babbles on and on for about two hours, with no signs of settling down for quiet time, let alone nap...

She manages to stay quiet for about 15-20 minutes or so, after about two hours of non-stop chattering... then starts with her singing again!

She is not even two years old yet. I am not sure how she manages to wake up before seven in the morning, carry on all day without a nap till about eight in the evening.

Of course, as a result of skipping her nap, she gets very cranky around five-ish in the evenings...

But, as she is quite exhausted by seven-ish in the evenings, I start winding her down around then; we hit the sack about eight-ish, read for a while, and then try to fall asleep by quarter to nine.

My mom doesn't remember if I had a nap schedule when I was a toddler... I guess I have to get used to the fact that the wee tot is doing away with her afternoon naps for good...

front yard wild bird

It was just another Friday evening. We were wondering how to kick off the weekend with Baby, D and me feeling a bit under the weather...

The Universe must have had its plan: we looked out the window, and right there in our front yard was a gorgeous Peacock!


D scooped up Ana, I grabbed my camera, and we headed out. There we were, gawking at this pretty creature with obvious delight and a bit of intrigue, wondering if he escaped from the zoo...

Ana couldn't stop pointing and repeating "Peacock!"

Our neighbor called the Animal Control. Apparently, no peacock had been reported missing, so, they just asked us to leave him alone and make sure he gets to roam around freely without being traumatized.

He just walked around in our front yard for a bit while we stayed out of the way, then to our driveway, then he hopped along on the side walk, majestically strutting around, headed further down the road, gracefully swaying his head this way and that, and decided to rest in our neighbor's back yard.


Not that I hadn't seen a peafowl in my life. There were quite a few peacocks I saw on a daily basis in India when I was little, and quite a few peahens. But, I never thought I'd see one on the average Pacific Northwest residential front yard :-)

Last weekend, we found a little tree frog in our yard and introduced him to Ana. She seemed quite fascinated. And now a peacock. Forget the Finch, Humming Bird, Blue Jay, Sparrow and Squirrel putting on a show in the back yard... I am sure any day now she is expecting an elephant or a camel to ring the door bell and say Hello!



 

prattle on, my precious

Most weekday mornings are a blur. I barely drag myself from bed, get baby ready, get myself ready, feed baby some breakfast, grab some coffee and perhaps something to munch on the ride to work...

However, what I savor most in the wee hours of those mornings, even before the alarm goes off, is the melodious prattling wafting in through the Baby Monitor. Sometimes, there is a discernible Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or Baa Baa Black Sheep, but, mostly, it is just some genial bantering Ana carries on with her Lion and Mouse and Bunny and Bear and Paapaa.

Ana is my alarm clock most days, especially when she goes to bed the previous night without much of a fight.

The Baby monitor sits right next to me on my night stand, and far enough away from the slumbering Dad. D barely hears anything through the monitor and that's just the way he likes it.

I, on the other hand, am a slave to the Baby Monitor. Have been since the minute it was hooked up and good to go when Baby was a few weeks old. Even though Baby was sleeping right next to my bed, in her little bassinet until she turned one.

We just couldn't settle on getting her room ready, and I might have subconsciously put it off. No pink. No baby blue either. Maybe sunny yellow. No stupid themes. No wall paper. Maybe some nice border somewhere, if I find a good one. No, you can't just pick a color, you have to make sure it is right for the baby...

So, until baby was almost one, she slept right next to me, in her crib, when she outgrew her bassinet.

Which meant that every little fidgeting, coughing, throat-clearing, tossing and turning by the oh-so-insensitive Dad was met with serious censure in the form of whispered "Shhhhh"!

When we moved Ana to her own room, she seemed to like it. At least, she would shut the door and sit there with her books and toys for long hours (30 minutes, to be closer to the truth, which is probably equivalent of a couple of hours in Baby clock) ...

Anyway, since she started sleeping in her own room, I had to turn up the volume on my Baby monitor receiver. And every once in a while, I worry that she is not breathing right. Does her breath sound labored? Is she OK? Is her breath being stifled by her quilt and blanket? Is it just the congestion or is she being smothered by her 4" tall stuffed toy that I allow her to hold on to?

Weekdays may pass in a blur, but the 5 or 10 minutes each morning, in my half-asleep state, when a gentle "Woe, Woe yay a buck..." streams into my consciousness and I visualize the little baby arms interlocked with some toy's arms swaying forward and backward in a rowing motion to the song, I feel an indescribable bliss...

multilingual moments

D has consistently tried to speak in Welsh with Ana since her birth. I try half-heartedly in Tamil, my mother-tongue. Well, sort of. My parents and grandparents all hail from this little place where they speak a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam. But, I grew up speaking a mix of Tamil, Malayalam and English with my parents.

Anyway, it becomes quite complicated to be bilingual when one word which sounds the same in two langauges mean completely different things.

Example: "Poo", in English, i am sure i don't have to explain. But, "Poo" in Tamil means Flower. Really. I am not making this up.

Of course, Tamil has its own script and structure, but, still... at this age, she can't really read, she can only hear and repeat the sounds.

Maternal grandma in Tamil is "Pattee". Now that we are potty training Ana, she knows the word "potty" which she pronounces as "pattee". And without batting an eyelid, pores over the family album and points out "Pattee".

Nothing in Welsh ever sounds similar to anything remotely English or Tamil. So, D has it easy trying to teach Ana Welsh, I'd say :-)

On the other hand, the other day, catching sight of a cow or a bull in a commercial on TV, she turned to D and excitedly blurted out, "Appa, buwch! Appa, buwch. Moo." And then, with the same breath, turned to me and said, "Amma, maadu! maadu. Moo."

(buwch, pronounced bee-yookh, is Welsh for cow; and maadu is Tamil for cow).

Both D and I couldn't stop the wide glowing grin we were sporting for a long time after that:-)

---

p.s: we were at the store today, and all of a sudden Ana points at her eye, looks at D and declares, "Appa, slug-ad. Ana's slug-ad", then turns to me and says, "Amma, kann. Ana's kann."

llygad=eye in Welsh, pronounced slug-aed, except the 's' at the beginning is sort of lisp-y, with a rolled tongue; kann= eye in Tamil

this little piggy

Many weekends, around 3:30-ish in the afternoon, if you tuned into to our Baby Monitor Channel, you'll hear a melodious rendition of the beautiful lyrics:

iss little piggy wee wee wee,
iss little piggy wee wee wee,
iss little piggy wee wee wee,
iss little piggy wee wee wee,
iss little piggy wee wee wee

That's around when Ana wakes up from her nap and keeps herself entertained until we get her out of the crib.

Ana seems to love "This little piggy went to market". She makes us do each hand and then each foot back to back.

She likes to wiggle her cabbage patch doll Enid's "fingers" and "toes" while reciting, "iss little piggy wee wee wee..." for each appendage.

Apparently, "went to market, stayed home, had roast beef, had none" seem to be too complex for her to bother with (understandably: she is not even 2 years old yet); so, all the little piggies cry "wee wee wee..."

Most weekday mornings she manages to find something absolutely a must-do and throws a bit of a tantrum if we don't indulge her. And, being in a rush to get to work, we sort of distract her and get going...

But this morning, it was such a sweet thing that we had to give in: D was holding BD (one of our kitties), and Ana simply would not get her coat on to leave until D wiggled each of BD's fingers and toes reciting "This little piggy..."

It was hilarious. Poor BD didn't quite know what was going on and sat there wide-eye and pointy-eared, ready to dart if there was a slack in the hold :-)

baby's first algorithm

1. Get Appa to seat me and strap me in the high-chair
2. Get Appa to put the tray on
3. Get Appa to serve me some hufen ia
   

hufen ia = ice cream (pronounced like heeven yaa, in Welsh); of course, offullaa is how Ana says it...

This was too funny to not record and look back down the road:

About 30 minutes ago, Ana had a snack - some cheese crackers, water, some rice cake and sesame sticks. A huge snack by her tummy-size, usually. So, we figured she shouldn't be hungry for at least another hour or two, when we will have dinner... Then, she ran out to the yard with D and played for a while...

Then, a few minutes ago, to D's and my puzzlement, Ana asked D to seat her in the highchair and strap her on; step one done, she instructed D to fix the tray of the highchair; step two done, she smiled sweetly and said,"Appa, offulla? Ana ishio offulla."

Instead of asking for offulla directly, she had this whole series of instructions mapped out to get her the ice cream she was after!

Possibly because every time she asks me for offulla, I say, "All Gone!" and never give her any:-)

punt, not quite

Ana likes to talk a lot these days. A lot. But, only D and I understand it, of course.

For instance, there's the allallae (alligator), baalalla (bald eagle), piss (fish), maa-baiya (macaroni penguin), opatuss (octopus), dassanor (dinosaur), basso (butterfly), not to be confused with vather basso (water buffalo) to name a few...

She loves Dr. Seuss' The Grinch and Horton DVD we have. Every once in a while she will get it out of the DVD shelf and bring it to one of us and ask us to play it.

The other day, D was busy with something when baby walked up to him and said a particular four letter word that neither of us uses at home.

Completely confused, D looked up to find Ana holding The Grinch DVD and repeating the four letter word, pointing at the TV.

The four letter word, for the curious-minded readers, is not easy for me to type here in this blog - not that I am a prude or anything... So, let me just state that, it is a word that sounds like punt, except there's a c instead of p.

Yep, that's how Ana says "Grinch" these days:-)

She probably wonders why we disappear briefly, and, simultaneously she hears uncontrolled laughing, not much unlike hyena's, every time she asks for us to play the Grinch DVD.

coffee juice

On a weekend afternoon, D and I were enjoying a cup of tea, as we usually do...

Ana knows it as 'kah-fee': the brownish liquid, usually hot, that Amma and Appa drink on and off, and refuse to share with her.

She knows she has to have some...

The other day, Ana kept insisting she wanted to try some from D's mug, as usual.

And, my heart leaped out of my chest when D actually let her try some!!

I was furious and was working myself up to a big lecture about why it is wrong and is irresponsible parenting, when D gave his characteristic smirk and said, "Calm down, it is just hot chocolate, with milk, no sugar added".

Phew!

Ana is getting ready to drink out of a cup. She has the mechanics down. She just does not quite know to keep the cup straight up, and so, ends up spilling while simply holding the cup.

However, she manages to drink out of it successfully if she manages to get it to her mouth before spilling it all over herself.

When she spills, she gets mad and dashes the cup to the ground. Which is where the little stainless steel cup my mom gave her works great. A few dents at the most, on repeated abuse, but otherwise holds up well.

But, over the last few days, I have offered her a straw with the cup of hot chocolate (chocolate Ovaltine®, usually) in milk and she seems to enjoy it.

The catch is, she knows chocolate, knows where we keep them, and when she remembers, she throws a fit until we give her some. So, the word chocolate has sort of become taboo at home, just so we can avoid reminding her about its existence...

As a result of some creative naming scheme, mostly on Ana's part, hot chocolate has now become coffee juice at home.

Around snack time, she seats herself in the high-chair, asks for kah-fee-doos, and relishes the whole experience: stirs it with her straw, uses her straw as spoon to drink some, actually manages to drink some through the straw, and when there is about a few drops left that won't come up any other way, she picks up the cup and does a bottoms up!

There's two of them now...

Last Saturday mid-morning, after a nice breakfast, D decided to do some yard work.

Ana decided to play with Enid, her cabbage patch doll; which usually involves her meticulously undressing Enid, and making me dress the doll back again starting with diaper, and ending with socks & shoes.

The doll was a gift from great grandma, along with a huge wardrobe of perfectly tailored clothes for all seasons, including crocheted hooded sweater & mittens and what-not.

Don't laugh at me: I secretly love dressing the doll and look for ways to entice Ana to play with Enid, so I can join in without feeling silly...

So, while making a nice cup of chai, I was also playing with Ana and Enid. Semi-Idyllic.

Then, Ana spied D outside in the backyard and wanted to join him. So, she found her coat and asked me to help her get it on.

Then, she pointed and asked me to get D's coat as well, trying to state, with a worried look, that Appa is out there in the cold all unprotected, no coat!

Of course, I gave her D's coat and she indicated she was ready to step out. So, I opened the patio door, let her out.

She walked up to D, handed him the coat and waited eagerly for him to wear it.

D is sort of a polar bear, and when doing yard work, he usually doesn't like to wear that coat unless it is pouring down or snowing heavily. So, he said, "Thank you, Ana. I don't need the coat. You can give it back to Amma."

Boy, did her face fall, and was she upset!

I was just watching this and suggested, "why don't you just put it on for a few minutes, it'll make her happy..."

Rolling eyes and a shaking head told me I had not quite treaded safely on the eggshells: D looked at me with a dear-gawd-there's-two-of-them-now look, put on the coat and picked Ana up and sat down for a breather.

Determined to be helpful, I ventured, "Isn't it sweet? The little doll is so protective of you."

"Hm. I think you mean controlling... she probably inherited the gene."

can't fool me, Amma

Ana likes to sit on her little potty every time we ask her about it. Or every time I need to use the toilet, she likes to follow me in and ape me.

She giggles excitedly when grabbing a long piece of toilet paper and throwing it in her little potty, which sits next to the big potty.

Then, she likes to pull the flush lever on the big potty when she is done pretending to do her business... she never has actually successfully deposited any droppings in her little potty so far.

All in good time.

What I find cute is, she now knows to pull her pants down and take off her diaper before sitting on her little potty. Hurray to elastic-waist pants. I am waiting for summer when i can let her run around in the buff so potty training will be even easier...

Of course, after declaring she is all done and jiggling the flush lever on the big potty, she wants "dye-po noudh" (diaper newdd, newdd=new in Welsh). She promptly opens the cabinet door under the sink, and throws her old diaper away clearly stating, "taash" (trash).

Perfect so far.

But, even if the diaper is quite unsoiled, and has just been put on her a few seconds before the potty visit, she wants to throw it away.

Being the penny-pinching (environmentally conscious) mom that i am, i tried to save the diaper before she threw it in the trash, in an attempt to use it again. (She does use cloth diapers on and off on weekends when we are at home...)

Anyway, so, I tried to sneak the few-seconds-old, barely-used, potentially-reusable diaper back into one of the closet shelves where we keep her diapering essentials. Well, seriously, it was bone dry, and i had just put it on her a few seconds before she decided to take it off... i wouldn't compromise hygiene, no way!

At diaper change time, I pulled out the barely-used diaper to put on her. She noticed that it was not quite brand new and started kicking up a fuss, repeating: "no, Amma, No. Ana ishio dye-po noudh" until i put on a spanking new one on her. (ishio=eisiau, Welsh for want)

Right after, she picked up the said barely-used one and took it to the diaper-trash-can and threw it in clearly stating, "Amma, ditty dye-po" (dirty diaper).

I laughed and let it go. But, made a mental note to fold and press the barely-used one next time so that it looked more like new. My mommy-brain reasoned that her main objection might have been to the fact that it was a little crumpled and didn't have the brand new look.

So, last evening, I tried the same trick again, when Ana took off her 2-second-old diaper... i folded it flat and brought it out to the changing-mat on the bed where i change her.

Of course, there is no fooling her!

Like she knew what I had been up to, Ana kicked and screamed, wouldn't let me put the barely-used one on, actually supervised me till i threw it away, and got on a brand new one!

She will be two in two months or so. And, I am trying as best as I can to encourage her to get potty trained... At this rate, we might be solely turning a profit for the diaper industry over the next few months...

now i know why...

The preferred term of endearment I call D by is, let's say, "Sweetie". Just hypothetically. I am too embarrassed to actually share the term I use...

Anyway, so, let's say I am in the bathtub with Ana, and we are just about done with the bath, I call out, "Sweetie, Baby is done... can you come and get her?"... you will hear a strong echo, "seetee, baby sa done... cnwekjr nfjpq?", in a melodious voice.

None other than Ana parroting me. She is into it these days.

She has started referring to D as "seetee" on and off, hearing me use it. She knows him as "Appa" and calls him "Appa" on and off as well.

I find it terribly funny, but, a little uncomfortable...

When I was in India, I remember mommies with toddlers were always calling their husbands "Appa", which translates to "Dad". It irked me a bit that they were calling their husbands "Dad" instead of by their names or the more traditional way of addressing them in the local language.

Now I know why.

So, if you hear me calling D "Appa", don't laugh. Ana made me do it:-)

like baby, like mommy

Last evening, when Ana was done messing around in my cupboards, she tried to shut it.

Of course, if things are not arranged just-so in the shelves, the cupboard door will not shut tight. Many a day I've been livid about it while rearranging the things inside to make sure the door shuts.

So, I was quite amused to watch Ana scream and fuss at the door when it wouldn't shut.

I gushingly remarked to D, "She is just like me... she must get that fiery streak from me... look at her work the cupboard door..."

"Hm. Seems to me you are more like her. And, she is just being a 2-year old."

Thank you, dear, for your keen observation and insight.

milk madness

For the last few weeks, milk seems to drive Ana mad. She gets warm milk in the morning, and again in the evening before "story time" and going to bed.

But for some reason, when I warm up the milk and give her the sippy cup, she gets very upset, throws the cup down and cries. Doesn't even try to drink the milk. Screams, No!" and simply throws her cup down hard.

Nothing really consoles her until she works through it. She asks for her milk during her crying bout. But, when we hand it to her, she dashes it to the ground again and cries.

So, we let her be and walk away, leaving the cup of milk handy for her to get to when she is good and ready.

Then, after about 3 to 5 minutes, she finishes her crying, picks up her sippy cup where we left it for her, walks over to one of us and starts drinking. Just like that.

I have no idea what is upsetting her so about her milk. She doesn't do this with juice or water.

The intriguing part is: she asks for the milk and then throws it down. It is not like we are insisting that she drink it or anything... and, it is not that she prefers a different cup - we tried offering it in each one of her 4 cups, but, she still doesn't like it!

She doesn't do this with her meal. If she wants corn instead of pasta I've served, she screams and asks for it but is happy when we give it to her.

Her tantrum is a little different and easier to handle when it comes to her clothes and meal. She simply screams and asks for the shirt or pants or food she wants and is happy when she gets it.

Have to chalk this one down for a mystery and hope it doesn't last long...

kitty love

So far, the kitties have managed to stay a safe distance away from Ana. They are not especially fond of her, but, they are sweet. They don't hiss and fuss. They just sit in plain sight under the dining table, just out of reach, adopting the Live And Let Live policy.

Ana however has taken a special liking to the kitties over the last few months. Ever since she discovered they have hair all over their bodies that can be combed with their special "a-bus" (hairbrush). She has watched us do it and knows where we keep the kitty hairbrush.

The problem, of course, is the kitties are pretty much inaccessible to her.

So, she usually enlists D's help. First she instructs him to pick one up:"Appa, Toto. Toto sit Appa." (Toto=Twt, one of the kitties).

And when D has the said kitty safely on his lap, she hugs the kitty and plants him a big kiss, points out his ears, eyes, "tayo" (tail) and nose. Then gets the kitty hairbrush and fondly brushes his hair, as best as she can manage. All the while, the poor kitty sitting quietly only because D is holding him.

Then she instructs, "Appa, Toto bye bye." So D sends Twt away. Then, of course, she can't favor one over the other, so, she asks, "Appa, Bakkie? Bakkie sit Appa?". So, D gets Blackie, the other kitty, and settles down. Now, loop back to the beginning of the previous paragraph:-)

She seems to want to hug and kiss them a lot. Now, if only she knew and understood where their nose/mouth have been in an attempt to keep themselves clean, I am sure she would reconsider ways to show her love for the kitties. I do.

too many choices

Ana is not able to make up her mind easily these days. She would ask for milk; and when I get to the fridge, she would come along and spy the juice right next to the milk I am about to get for her, and start asking for juice.

And when I give her a sippy cup full of juice, she would scream and ask for milk. She knows milk goes in the "makkovay" (microwave) before I hand it to her. She loves to hold on to the lid of the sippy cup waiting for the 'ding' of the microwave.

But, soon after the 'ding', she knows for sure she wants "doos" (juice)!

So, i try to trick her sometimes: when milk is ready and she runs away screaming she wants juice and won't take the milk cup from me, i pretend to open the fridge, and hand her the same milk cup, with a sweet smile stating, "Ana's juice", and walk away pretending to be busy in the bathroom. Don't give her a chance to find out and change her mind... i feel a little evil, but, am sure it is an acceptable mommy-tactic.

She seems to like trying on all her clothes every day. I got her ready this morning: usual pants and t-shirt, comfortable for an active day at daycare.

Of course, she decided she didn't like the t-shirt I put on her and screamed till she found another one and had me help her put that on.

Thankfully, before she could change her mind about that shirt, I distracted her with shoes. She loves shoes. But, only, she has more than one pair, thanks to my mom.

She asked for and picked out her favorite brown ones with butterfly. Then got very upset about it after I put them on her. And decided she wanted a different pair - indoor ones - well, you get the picture.

Not sure if it is having choices and finding it hard to make up her mind, or about control, or a combination of both...

Every morning is becoming quite a struggle to get her ready and get to work. She is barely 21 months old. (note to self: start saying "almost two", "she is almost 2 years old"). She is probably just being a toddler.

I am fine with indulging her for now: as long as she is just changing her mind frequently about juice and milk and peas and corn and shirts and shoes.

I am not sure I can bypass the tantrum phase that easily. If she is at the store screaming for me to buy her a toy, I hope I can stay calm, tell her why that's not going to happen, walk calmly to the car, strap her in and head home safely. I hope I have the strength do that. More than that, I really hope and pray that I don't have to cross that bridge at all.

Typical mommy-baby saturday morning

Ana and I are just recovering from weeklong symptoms of flu and what-not. We decided to spend the morning doing the usual mommy-daughter stuff we do on Saturday mornings. Daddy is still not quite well and wanted to be left alone.

She helped me make breakfast for her: basically, sat on my hip and supervised while I made an Adai Dosai for her. She had a few bites of it for breakfast, with some ketchup.

Then, she helped me put the dishes away: at least, as long as I could make it clear to her that she cannot climb on the open door of the dishwasher, it went fine; then we had to take a break.

She wanted her hair done. What little she has, that is. She would find a hair band or hair clip and make me tie/clip her hair up. Then she would take it off in under a minute, and make me to do it again. This went on for about a dozen times.

Then, she wanted to get into two of my lower-level kitchen cupboards and play with my pots and pans. She loves stacking them and unstacking them; banging on them with a spoon. This gave me some time to sit back and enjoy a cup of tea.

Then we decided to do some art. We sat in our "Art Studio": a plastic mat spread on the floor. I gave her an old brush of mine, some card stock paper and some tempera paints.

She loves to finger paint. But of late, she started sucking the paints down more than putting them on paper, so, I thought a brush might be a novelty. It worked. She dipped the old brush in the paints and dabbed all over the cardstock "art" paper and had a blast.

She kept herself occupied for about 20 minutes. Enough time for me to start some rice in the rice cooker and make green jackfruit curry.

She is getting somewhat dainty these days: if she accidentally got some paint on her clothes or shoes, she would say, "Uh-Oh, Amma. Wipe. Amma, Wipe Ana." Somehow, getting the paints into her mouth doesn't seem to bother her as much!

After about 20 minutes of Art, she seemed ready for a different activity. She loves her Melissa&Doug Wood Puzzles. She has 3 of them. But, her favorite is this one pictured here.

She likes to do it all by herself these days. But, she loves it best when I jumble it up for her first. Then, she has a lot of fun talking to herself saying the animal name and putting its piece correctly.

So, I let her do them one by one. That kept her busy for about another 20 minutes. Enough time for me to cut and assemble a fleece bag I wanted to make.

Then, it was time for her lunch. So, got her strapped in her highchair and gave her some peas, corn and rice. Had her in my vicinity and chatted with her about Bunny and Mouse, recited 'Hickory Dickory Dock', 'Higglety Pigglety', 'One Two Buckle my shoe', while sewing my fleece bag.

Then, about 20 minutes later, after about 10 spoonfuls, she decided she is done, and lifted both her arms up shaking her hands doing the "All Gone" sign while screaming "Amma, Ana all done".

Somehow, when she decides she is all done, she wants out of her chair instantaneously! She would sit and stare at her food, play with etc for as long as she wants, but, the minute she says she is done, if we don't jump up, run to her and clean her up, she gets very upset. Wonder what that is all about...

Anyway, after lunch she knows it is naptime. She tried to protest. Usually, I am not too strong - I sort of give in and let her play a little more and then read to her before putting her in bed. But, today, D decided to be firm and put her in bed. Which turned out great as it gave me a chance to boot up my machine and blog! yay!

Ana is taking a nap. I have a few loads of laundry to do. Lunch is ready, but, neither D nor I are ready for it. We are still a little sick and can't stomach yummy food just yet. It's been a packed Saturday morning. Feels good to be up and about... Time for another delicious cup of chai.