Happy Birthday to Me!

This month has been a difficult one as Anna has made some big girl transitions (see 'Ugh'). But we made some adjustments and she has returned to her normal self, basically! In fact, this past Friday was my birthday , and she was especially wonderful - I guess it was her birthday gift to me!

As I said, Friday was my birthday, but since we were having a barbecue celebration the next day, I decided to make it a typical Friday and prepare for the party rather than asking my mom to watch Anna while I pampered myself (which is what I've done for the past few years)! Dave gave me an outdoor chest for the deck in the morning and a promise to take me to a Mets game later in the summer. Anna had PT and then she played nicely for the rest of the morning while I cleaned the house. She was so funny - she has some matchbox cars that she absolutely loves and she spent the morning driving them around the couch, the floor, the window and anywhere where there was a smooth surface.

Then when it was time for a nap, she happily sat with me and read some books and then off to sleep without a fight (recently she's been crying, albeit briefly, but a bit upsetting all the same)for three hours! She's a good napper, but recently she's been a little bit inconsistent so I was very happy to have three hours to myself. Then at 4 pm, she was happy to hang around for awhile while Dave and I got ready and then off to Grandma and Granddad's for my birthday dinner.

Dave surprised me after dinner with a visit from my friend Claire (who I didn't think I was going to see until the next day for the barbecue). He gave us money and treats and sent us to the VI for cosmos and then to the movies to see 'Sex and the City'. Anna went home with daddy and they were having so much fun together that she didn't go to sleep until almost 10 pm!

She woke up around 8 am the next morning and was such a good girl all morning while Dave and I cleaned up the back yard and prepared for the party later that afternoon. She wasn't as excited about taking her nap as she was the day before, but she still settled down within a reasonable time frame and slept for a couple of hours allowing me to run to the store for some last minute errands.

She woke up when the guests arrived and took a few minutes to warm up to all of the strangers. But soon enough she was running around the back yard with Granddad in tow. She especially loved the ten foot parachute I bought for the party and had a great time with Daddy, Granddad, Uncle Tim and Uncle John tossing her around in it. She ate an entire hamburger, had a bunch of corn and then proceeded to eat all of the macaroni salad off of my plate. When it was time for cake, she gladly sat on Grandma's lap and spooned herself some vanilla ice cream and frosting and then climbed on top of Granddad for her share of the enormous fruit salad my mom brought.

So Saturday was another late night since she didn't go to bed until the last guests left at 10 pm. We didn't think it was worth fighting with her about bedtime while there were still little ones around. But as soon as we said good night to Spencer and Devon, into the crib she went. She stopped crying before I even closed the door!

Unfortunately something was bothering her because she woke up crying twice. She used to wake up several hours after going to bed when she went to bed late, but gratefully she seems to be growing out of that habit. So I was a bit aggravated since I was really tired from the day's activities. I gave her Tylenol the second time she woke upand then sat with her for a few minutes. I then put her in her crib telling her it was really late and everyone else was sleeping. She started to get upset when I offered her her blanket. But I told her to calm down and turn on her side, and she willing turned over not to make another sound until 9 am the next morning!

Just when I'm at my wits end with her, she seems to come out of her craziness only to have learned more words and understand even more than she already does. I have to remember to remind myself of this when things get nutty because the sooner I come to this realization, the better I deal with her and the easier things become. It's not always easy when you feel frustrated and constantly 'on call'. But that's one of the reasons I started this blog - so I can go back and remind myself of how hard it used to be and how much we have all learned together!