Milestone memory: chopsticks

Last night, Mike handed Anna a chopstick which she inspected. Then he handed her another, and she held both up, one in each hand. Then Mike held two chopsticks and clicked them together as a percussion instrument. She may have tried banging hers together, but she's not very coordinated. It's hard to say.

But it reminded me of a pleasant memory of her holding a chopstick in her cubby little hand for the first time. It was the first thing she ever held on her own. How odd that before that she couldn't hold anything at all! And how odd that I was so excited about it when she did it! And now she can hold many things.

Oh my goodness, I just thought of something I don't think I ever wrote about here!! Anna is now sleeping in her crib, all by herself. Her first night alone in her crib was Labor Day, September 3 to 4. And she slept for about 10 hours uninterrupted. I missed her. But she seems to sleep well there, and we can put her to bed and continue doing whatever we want in the evening without worrying about waking her up. More nights than not, she is still waking to eat at 4:30 or so. Sure, it'd be nice if she didn't, but that is about 7 hours after her last feeding, and she goes right back to sleep, so whatever. So our routine is: Mike retrieves her from her crib at 4:30 and I nurse her while lying in bed. I am half asleep, and sometimes I doze off. She nurses for a while and then dozes off. We sleep until about 6:00, and then Mike and I have to get up (yuck!) So Mike returns her to her crib, and she sleeps until we wake her to get ready for the sitter, or until 8:00 or so if it's one of our stay-at-home with Lucy days.

But last night, Anna slept most of the night with me. It was nice to have her back in my arms. She hardly ate yesterday at the babysitter's--she is either getting a tooth or she has a cold. So she was extra hungry overnight and she came to be with me at 1:30AM and stayed. We woke around 7:00, and she was smiling at me, just happy to be alive. I am not a morning person, but it sure does make it easier to get the day going when you wake up to a set of cherubic cheeks just barely lit up by the rising sun peeking through the window.

Her smile brings me peace and comfort I have rarely known.

There is nothing like squeezing my baby, and pressing my cheek to hers. Ahhhhhh.