I used to think my floors were clean.  Then I had a daughter a.k.a. a crawling floor cleanliness test unit.  I look at the grey knees of her pants and realize that there is still plenty of dirt left on our floors even after the housecleaners mop. That shine is visual.  Well, ok, there is less dirt, too.    

Here’s her first experiments with the cane I was using to retrieve toys from under the couch.  I highly recommend a long narrow stick for fishing out of otherwise incredibly inconvenient places the plethora of toy pieces that accompany parenting a small child.

Wednesday Anna had her first ‘adult meal’ of pasta with ham and asparagus cream sauce along with broccoli.  One of these years, I won’t need to make separate dishes anymore.  We took a step in this direction Wednesday and again tonight when she had the same pork tenderloin (albeit without sauce), grilled asparagus and bread that we had for dinner.  She did get her applesauce with baby cereal in addition to those items tonight though.

It’s already the beginning of month 7 of 2008.  According to our scale, Anna is heavier than she was when I weighed her last on that scale a month ago.  I only did this because she was feeling particularly heavy at that moment.  I’m going to get into some form of shape with Anna lifting.  She made a beeline for the stroller today when Paul got it out to take her along on a trip to the store.  Watching her, I could see why the knees on her pants are so dirty by the end of the day.  We’re also almost done opening birthday presents.  We’ve been doing a few at a time so she can enjoy playing with them and not be overwhelmed by choices. 

Anna’s eighth tooth has made an appearance.  More may be on the way too.  Unbeknownst to us, right around one year, kids often go through a period of teething so intense that it makes their noses run in addition to the serious drooling.  Then there are the crying tantrums when something is not to Anna’s liking.  For example, removing the sunblock container from her clutches this morning at breakfast caused a mad that included 5 minutes of all out crying.  For some reason, Paul and I were tired this evening.   I looked over and this was exactly how I felt.

Check out the drummer in this picture - this is at the Hillcrest farmer’s market today:

Tambourine on the left shoe, and a hard-shell suitcase for a drum. Now that’s clever!

(To keep it on topic, Anna was in the backpack with me as I took this. She too liked the drummer.)

It’s the end of a busy week.  The summer program at my job started Monday, and so I am now working full time.  Then today we went to the picnic for the summer program.  It was catered with options of chicken, beef, or fish along with a pirate, an airbrush ‘tattoo’ artist, and a bunch of prizes for the bingo game.  (We won a beach towel.)  Anna’s seriously teething this week, and today was no exception.  Drool is everywhere and her nose is a positive font of mucus.  I think I can see her eighth tooth starting to poke through.  She also got a little too much sun on the top of her head.  We got sunblock everywhere else, but it’s hard to apply through hair.  We’ll have to develop a better stern vigilance about her sun hats.  She is now a freestanding person when she’s not thinking about it.  (As soon as she notices she’s standing she falls down.)  Zarela says Anna has taken a step at daycare before falling down.  Anna hasn’t tried this at home yet.  She does cruise around holding onto things and crawls with great speed.  Here she is trekking with her father in tow wearing one of her ’star trek’ sleepers.   

In the next picture, she was at the piano when I started taking the picture.

Warning:  Professional gravity inverter.  Do not try this at home.

Anna had a fairly strong histamine reaction to French toast this morning.  She started rubbing her eyes like crazy, the back of her neck turned red along with facial blotches, and she got a little grumpy.  This confirms that she is now sensitive to eggs.  She wasn’t having problems before her shots on her birthday, but about a week after her shots she started showing signs of sensitivity and this morning confirmed it.  So no eggs for Anna for the next month or more.   People are still fine.  Here’s a pictorial explanation of why I don’t wear necklaces now from Monday and Anna opening one of her birthday presents with her dad today.

Grandma also gave Anna a tutu for her birthday.  Anna got to check it out this afternoon.