Ansley's Anslers

{nearing 19 weeks}

1 toy rocking horse, a pint-sized barstool, 1 jumper (well.. more like a "twister" at this point), several trips to target and countless cute outfits later: christmas = done. whew. 

since everyone kept telling us this was the year to save money, we more or less let you sleep through the festivities. sorry about that, but i promise to make it up to you in christmases to come which i'm sure will find you spoiled out of your mind and high on candy canes and cocoa (that or eating wrapping paper and playing with boxes).

most of your items probably won't be used until you're a tad older anyway (see above list), so as aunt heidi says "you'll be alright."

now, for the all about ansley section:

1. you have fans. i get requests on a regular basis for more pics of you (and not just from the grandparents). i don't know what i was thinking trying to keep up "the daily ansley." it has now turned into "the occasional ansley" and i fear the masses may riot if i don't give them more you with a quickness.

2. you are one flexible little noodle. it's not really a surprise when you grab your feet these days, but last week daddy caught you putting one in your mouth. that can't be sanitary but we'll allow it. and if we sit you up, you slump over almost in half like a little gorilla. it's quite cute. 

3. you still like to stand. unless you're sleeping or eating, it's your preferred position. i think you enjoy being up at our level, but it makes for a very tired mommy. if i even attempt to put you on your stomach, you "fake cry" (then real cry) or push up and roll right over onto your back (it's your newest trick ;)  which i'm sure you think is pretty clever. at this rate, you may just bypass the crawling thing altogether and go right to standing. yikes. if standing is not an option, you demand that we walk you around in an outward-facing fashion. it's kind of like you're riding around in the crook of our arms. you even cross your feet (and thus wiggle off any of those pesky sock-things we keep trying to apply). 

4. you put everything in your mouth. apparently this is absolutely normal for a child your age, but it's still funny. if we lay you down on your back and hover over you, your current instinct is to grab for the face and try to fit it in your little mouth (which you open as wide as possible in a birdlike manner). there is lots of drool involved, but i consider it a baby kiss and therefore love every minute of it.

(daddy demonstrating the "baby kiss")

5. you've thrown your first tantrum. whether it was teething or sleepiness or just not feeling like yourself, i don't know, but right before your 4-month checkup you started refusing to eat (or stopping in the middle of eating) and screaming loudly and angrily like a wounded dinosaur. it sounded painful (to both of us), so we as new parents obviously freaked out and rushed you to the doctor - who basically told us that you seemed fine and if you got hungry enough, you'd eat. 

...he was right... 

6. you're starting to show preferential treatment to mommy and daddy. though i secretly feel honored, i also don't want you to ignore others and am poised to discourage this behavior should it get out of hand. there are too many people who love you for us to keep you all to ourselves all the time.

7. my darling, i fear we may eventually need a paci (nuk, bink, pipe, dummy) intervention. when you are upset, it is about the only thing that calms you. so of course we have a plethora of them in a wide selection of brands and colors. we are trying to teach you to manually reinsert them yourself. i'll let you know how it goes. it is helpful to attach them to a leash, since you take pleasure in spitting one out and then whining about its disappearance. 

8. your current favorite toys are soft things with texture - one in particular that i have dubbed porcupuppy, since it looks kind of like a gummy cross between the two species. daddy asked its name the other day and since porcupuppy was all i could come up with, has taken to calling it "pp" for short. he finds this most amusing and enjoys referring to you "playing with your pp." unfortunately, after mommy sterilized porcupuppy aka pp, his spikes seems irreversibly sad and damaged. but no worries - mimi and your hero daddy won you a replacement in the movie theater claw game!  except that this one doesn't have a face, so it just looks like a hairy blue ball. 

oh crap...

9. you coo and babble like its your job. sometimes you emit strange gurgling noises. and sometimes i swear you've formulated a word (like "hi!" or "hannah"). i'm pretty sure your first phrase will be "HANNAH NO!" or "no, ma'am." the most recent casualty at her paws was one of your favorite pacis. 

10. you love hannah. she fascinates you, and you live for the rare moments when we actually let her come up and lick your hands (after which we promptly sanitize them). i think the feeling is mutual. bo, on the other hand, treats you like you have baby-cooties and will not linger within 3 feet of you for more than 30 seconds at a time. if we set you down next to him when he's lounging, he promptly (or as promptly as an old arthritic man can muster) gathers himself up, does a 180 and saunters off. jerk. (don't worry i'm sure he'll realize he loves you soon enough).

11. you are becoming my mini-me... in an i'm-so-picky-i-only-drink-my-milk-at-a-certain-temperature way. dangit. 

you prefer your milk warm, and goodness help us minions if it's not prepared to your liking. heads will roll (or eardrums burst). and of course you sleep best when swaddled (i'm sure because it's most like being cradled in our loving arms. how annoyingly sweet). but seriously, you conk right out as soon as we wrap you up and put in the plug. daddy likes to tell you "you will go to sleep, or i will put you to sleep (a la ben stiller in happy gilmore)" and then do so.