A Few Recent Moments of Absurdity

Yesterday morning, while dropping Annie off at school, we pulled into the parking lot just as Connie, Ben, and Sam did. We parked next to them, and Annie and Ben began their joyous morning conversation as soon as they popped out of their cars.

"Hi, Annie!"
"Hi, Ben!"
"Want to see my tractor I brought for show and tell?"
"Yeah, I do!"
"OK" (shows her the tractor, proudly)
"Want to see my picture of me and Cinderella?"
"Yeah, I do!"
"Here it is, see?" (shows picture of Cinderella and Annie, proudly)

They continue this way as we all walk down the steps towards school, glorying in all their Annie-and-Ben adorableness, while Connie and I roll our eyes and smile because they are just so ridiculously cute. Silence for a moment as we cross over to the sidewalk, and then:

"Hi, Annie!" (as if just now seeing her for the first time of the day)
"Hi, Ben!" . . .

. . . and the conversation repeats itself, almost word for word. Did they seriously not remember having that conversation 30 seconds ago, or did they like it so much that they wanted to have it again? It was like watching the movie Groundhog Day. Absurd.

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Jemma, at 10 1/2 months, is nearly over the whole nursing thing, I think. We're pretty much down to first thing in the morning and last thing at night, with an occasional midday feeding thrown in depending on what she's eating/doing. Last night, she was weepy and sort of inconsolable for about 2 hours while we had some neighbors over for dinner. You would have thought she was so uncomfortable, tired, or sick. So I put her in the tub immediately after they left, did a quick bath, and went to put my poor, sad baby to bed. At which point she became happy, energetic, hyper baby while I tried to nurse her one last time. She'd nurse for a minute or two, then pull her head away, sit up a little, and clap her hands with a big smile on her face. Then, back to nursing. Repeat about four times, until I gave up and put her in her crib, where she promptly fell asleep. She was happy to be nursing? She was happy to be going to bed? Who knows.

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At dance today, the instructor had all the parents come into the dance classroom for a few minutes so that the girls could have an "audience" as practice for their upcoming recital. She had the girls stand on their tape, turned on the music, and commenced to model the dance they'll supposedly be doing in a mere three weeks. Annie's response?

1. Twirl madly around and around while stamping her tap shoes loudly (this is NOT what the instructor was doing during this part of the dance).

2. Attempt to follow along and actually DO the correct dance for about 7 seconds.

3. Pick her nose.

4. Pretend, three times in quick succession, to fall down on the ground, say, "Oops!" and pick herself up very dramatically.

5. Notice that the girl next to her has stopped all movement to stare at her own reflection in the mirror, and follow suit.

6. Run over to me proudly the minute the music stops and says, "Give me five, Mommy! Good job dancing!"

Jemma, clapping madly.