Milly needs to get over this clingy thing she’s developed for me. I mean, it’s flattering to a degree, but when I can’t put her down to take stuff out to the car, or she cries when I leave the room just to go grab something, it gets a little stressful.
It was compounded today because Amanda hurt her hand and wasn’t able to do as much. She was going to one of her parents’ neighbor’s house to borrow an egg for breakfast, and she thought it would be fun to take Milly in her wagon. Milly was crying (because I was working, so I didn’t go) until Bruce was put in the wagon with her.
Well, Amanda got the egg, but Bruce was fidgeting and Amanda was trying to keep him in the wagon so he wouldn’t run off. Sometime in all that she slipped on some ice in their driveway, almost overturning the wagon. She landed hard on her left hand (the one she uses) and had a fun time trying to get back to her parents’ house (which wasn’t right next door, and they’re on largish plots of land anyway). Bruce got out, Milly was fussing and Amanda was worried that she’d broken her hand while trying to get back home and managing all that.
Hours later, I can tell you that her hand is feeling much better, though it’s swollen and very bruised.
At any rate, we ate some blueberry pancakes after Milly went peaceably enough down for a nap. Amanda took a shower while I took care of a few work things then took one myself. We packed up and headed on back home. Karen came about 20 or 30 minutes after, bringing Harvey (Bruce, being smaller, rode with us), the wagon, our TV and Milly’s chair from her great-grandparents.
As soon as we got inside, Milly was ready to play with her kitchen and blocks. She seemed really happy to be home, and since she was pretty well distracted, Amanda and I were able to unload the car pretty quickly without having to worry about her.
Amanda and Karen went to the mall to exchange some shoes. My Sanuks and Amanda’s were a size large (apparently they run large). We’d also bought Amanda’s dad some Rainbows from the same place, but her grandma got some for him too so they decided to exchange them for some Sanuks. The people were probably annoyed to see three pairs of shoes come back to them like that, but at least they walked back out with two more. They didn’t have any that Amanda wanted in her size, so they’re going to have to order some.
I ended up with a different style than I originally got. They’re more like shoes and even have a place for shoestrings, but they stay on fine without them. They didn’t have any in the style I had picked out in my size either, but I might get some more for my birthday or something.
Back home, Milly was content to play with her toys until about 4:30. She probably would have kept on playing, but I figured if she didn’t get a nap she’d get cranky. She didn’t complain when I put her down, but I was in our room setting up the new TV and heard her talking and laughing for quite a while after I put her down.
Amanda and Karen arrived back home with calzone. Once everyone had their fill we got Milly up. I hung back to see if she’d be okay with Amanda or Karen getting her up, but she complained and wouldn’t even let Amanda get her out of her crib until Amanda told her she’d let her go find me. To her credit, Milly was smiling very sweetly when she found me hiding behind the bathroom door.
I fed her some calzone while Amanda and Karen set up Amanda’s new Keurig coffeemaker. Milly kept twisting around to try to watch the TV, so I turned her around and put on one of her new Baby Einstein DVDs; the one about colors. She really enjoyed watching it, and I enjoyed watching her watch it.
She got a bath and was put down to bed after that. Milly has begun learning the art of manipulation, unfortunately. Karen read her Runaway Bunny, which she had gotten for Milly for Christmas. About three-fourths of the way through the book Milly took it from Karen and gave it to me, but she wasn’t listening to either one of us; she was busy playing with a buckle on her swing. Once I finished reading the book though, she said and signed, “More.” I said, “Yeah, right. You weren’t even listening the first time.”
I proceeded to pick her up and then she made the sign for milk and said, “More milk.” I just laughed at her again and said no. She wasn’t interested in any of that stuff before she knew she was going to bed, so we all knew it was a ploy. Yeah, we’re in for some trouble.
After Milly went down Amanda, Karen and I played a game of Carcassonne, which I won, but only because of my last play. With the last tile I drew I was able to connect some of my farm to a huge one Karen and Amanda were already sharing, which pretty much negated even having it. Because of that, I was able to take the lead. We figured it up, and without me doing that Amanda would have won and Karen and I would have tied for second.
I’m getting ready to dive into some Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, one of the games I got for Christmas.
Zach Dotsey