Walking

Sabrina, of course, can walk now. For a while it was just cute, you know, the I-don't-have-knees wobble walk that ends with a BOOM! It's still cute, but no longer a novelty. To me. To Sabrina, it's not a novelty but a way of asserting her independence.

The worst is at the store. No, Mom, I don't WAAAAHHHHnt to stay in the cart! I want to walk my own self! And pull things off shelves! And hug babies (i.e. stuffed animals)! With my snotty nose! And no! I will not walk with you!

Is she 13 so young?

Babies

I may have mentioned this before, but Sabrina really has a thing for taking care of her "babies." Her current favorite is her 2009 US Open Bear baby. Right now she is carrying it around with a washcloth as a blankie. She will wipe its nose, give it kisses, cover it with the blanket, cuddle it, and strangle it. In such a loving way.

One thing Tiny has stopped doing (for which I thank all the powers-that-be on earth and in the heavens and on the deep blue sea) is putting things in her mouth. I thought that stage would never end! Now, I admit, at Thanksgiving she put some polished rocks in her mouth, but who hasn't thought those things look like candy? Unfortunately, one phase melds into another, and she is now into emptying things--drawers, mostly--and scattering the innards all over the house. Lids. Bibs. Baby food. And my personal favorite, feminine hygiene products. Awesome. I would pray to the powers-that-be to end this stage, but I shudder to think what might be next.

Thanksgiving

I expected Thanksgiving to be a small, family affair with Zane, Tiny, and myself, and Benn, Cheri, Elli and Bode, and Boyd, Emily, and Grant. Then, we found out Dad's friend Bruce was coming. Great, I groused to myself, now I have to eat with a fork instead of just shoving it in. Imagine the shock to my table manners when I found out that not only was Cy coming with Ella (although they're practically family, so at least I could still lick my knife), but that Mom invited a few foundlings, as usual! Invited to our feast were Mei and Bing, who, being Chinese (if you didn't figure that out) don't have much family around and aren't really familiar with American Thanksgiving (although they have had pumpkin pie. From Costco. For two people. I hope they REALLY liked it. Thank you, Costco).

Then, at the actual feast, we also got Kathleen and Jay, as well as Alison and her kids, and Shawn and Jim. I have suspicions that this is because Auntie broke her femur (at a rich person's house, and she won't even sue)and therefore did not want to stand up for hours cooking turkey, smashed potatoes, etc. One can hardly blame her, although one CAN make snarky remarks. The total count, I thought, would be 12. It was 26. So much fun!

Tiny continued her tradition of screaming when she was tired and sitting on strange men's laps. She had not met Bruce, Shawn or Jim, and sat on each of their laps. Her favorite was Jim, thank goodness. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, and nothing against any of the many strange men Sabrina has hung out with, but if she HAS to have a strange-man favorite and sit in his lap for long periods of time, I'd just as soon she choose the gay man. Just sayin'. I also hope her affection for men she's never met before PHASES OUT before she turns, oh, one and a half. I shudder to think.

Autism Update

Sabrina was immunized for MMR two and a half weeks ago and still does not have autism.

I'll keep you posted.

GRRRR! GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!

So, Sabrina has thought it a good idea to wake up in the night again lately. It isn't. A good idea, I mean. I think it was a combination of getting shots and an ear infection (which I refuse to treat with antibiotics because they don't really work on ear infections usually), but I DON'T CARE, UNIVERSE! MAKE HER SLEEP! The worst was two nights ago when she was up for over an hour, screaming. She finally slept without me giving in. BUT: last night she woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30, and I did it. I just fed her. Ten minutes later I was back in bed. Curse it.

The best part of all this, though, is when I pick her up in the night her little arms go around my neck and she holds on as if I'm saving her from the deep, dark terrors of The Crib At Night. It's so sweet, it almost makes up for the fact that I'm awake. Almost.

Halloween!

This was Sabrina's second Halloween, as a simple calculation will tell you. You may remember (or not) that last year on Halloween I finally decided in the afternoon of October 21 to get Sabrina a costume and could not find one, so she had to go as me. This year I was much more prepared, and bought her a costume in August. Here is Sabrina, magical flying unicorn! She went trick-or-treating to exactly three houses and yet got about 10 houses worth of candy. You can see why, can't you? She ate her M&Ms, but I got the rest.





Her costume makes me think of when my niece Elli was flapping her arms at my mom's house and her mom, Cheri, made some comment about a cute little bird. Elli immediately made THE SADDEST FACE EVER and came and sat on Cheri's lap and cried with her elbows tight to her sides BUT HER HANDS STILL FLAPPING. Why was she so sad? Because she was a flying horse, of course, NOT a bird. Cheri immediately apologized, and OF COURSE Elli was a flying horse, she could tell that now that Elli was closer to her. In that spirit, here are Elli and Bode in their supercute Halloween costumes. Elli, you will notice, is a horse and rider, whereas Bode is an adorable (but still manly) duck. Cheri told me after much searching she found Elli's shirt in the boys' section of the DI and the fabric for her hair in the bargain bin. So, everyone's a winner!



And here are a few more pictures because Tiny is SO DANG CUTE! Have I mentioned how much she likes socks? And doesn't she have such a precious little face? That's right: my blog, my gushing about my kid.