ABCZ

We knew it was coming...and that still didn't make it any easier.

Anna's pet rat Rosa died. She was getting up there in ratty years (like, 2.5) and was slowing down. We had tried to prepare Anna for it. But then, Saturday morning, I went into the back room, where Anna had been playing all morning, and noticed that Rosa was lying on the perch in her cage, peeking out, very cute. And lying still. VERY still. Too still. Uh oh.

So, we got her out and put her in a pretty little box with some pink fabric, and then told Anna. She was heartbroken. She wanted to see her, and that was fine. Then she wanted to watch iCarly with her...? Ummm, okay, so the grieving process is different for everyone, right? OK. But she watched TV for quite awhile...with her rat. The dead rat. In a little pink box of soft fabric sitting next to her on the couch. That probably sounds like a sweet, heartwarming story...unless it was YOUR couch that the dead rat box was sitting on.

(As it turns out, this all happened on the same day that we had our couches exchanged by Jennifer Convertibles and got new ones...so the dead rat couch is gone now, lest you worry about sitting here when you come to visit again.)

I think I must have scored some Mommy credit for letting that one happen, right? And I get even MORE for not visibly wincing when Anna said that she wanted ME to put Rosa's paw print in the little stepping stone she was making for her. But, then, that means I have to TOUCH the stiff dead rat, right?!! Curtis had to look away so she wouldn't see his eyes tear up...because he was LAUGHING so hard at my obvious dismay. But, I got it done, *shudder* and now there is a pretty little stepping stone with Rosa's name on it in the back yard for Anna to remember her.

True to form, Anna found a way to look at the bright side. At some point, between tears, she perked up and said, "At least now she can't pee on my when I hold her!" I love that kid.

So, there are two things I know about how this will work when the next (and final) rat, Daisy, goes:

1 - There will be no more rats. I did it. They were cute. Anna was thrilled. No more.
2 - Curtis gets to do the next paw print.

On the way to my mom's house, you have to cross a pretty busy highway. I apparently cut too close for someone's comfort this morning, and they laid on their horn. Anna asked why. I said, "Well, they were blowing their horn because they thought I got too close." She replied, "Oh! So THAT'S why you said BLOW ME!" Oops...

Let's see...just a little update on Zach. He's almost 4 months old now. He is such a happy, content little guy! We have lots and lots of smiles around here! His little grin just lights up the room. He sometimes sleeps until 3:30am or so, and sometimes sleeps until about midnight. Either way, he usually ends up in bed with us after that to snuggle and nurse. Seeing Anna so big now, it seems like yesterday that we were doing the same schedule with her, so we're in no hurry to see this time rush by. We're enjoying it. :) Although, I do keep threatening Curtis that some night, while he's sleeping, I'm going to let Zach roll that way and 'accidentally' latch on to him, just so that he can share the experience. Truthfully, I wouldn't ever do that...only because my fragile bladder couldn't handle the assault when I tried not to piss myself laughing at what I'm SURE would be an "OH SHIT! WHAT the HELL just grabbed my nipple in vice grips and tried to rip it from my body!!!" expression on his face.


Zach can crawl, stand on his own, say words and laugh now. Well...according to Anna he can, anyway. In reality, he can scoot around on his back a little bit, definitely likes to 'stand' on my lap while I'm letting him hold onto my fingers (but collapses like one of those bead toys on no notice at all), gurgles and coos a lot, and does actually laugh. He does crunches trying to sit up on his own as well.

He has what we call IPD (infant pattern baldness) now that some of his baby hair is falling out. It's like a reverse mullet. Anna describes it as "like Uncle Carl's hair, but backwards" which means lots on top, but nothing on the sides. Because of this, I have been unable to resist the impulse to fashion it into a mohawk at times.



Otherwise, most of our days are full of napping, nursing, smiling and diapers. :) I love this age...it's so much fun. I love watching him fall asleep, and the little grins he makes while he snoozes. I love the little milky smiles he gives me when he is supposed to be nursing, but he's just cracking up instead. I love the little sigh of relief he gives when he latches on to eat. I love the wide eyed half asleep zone he goes into when I sit him up from a nap. I love that when he smiles, his whole body squirms with glee. I love the way I can feel his body get heavier on my shoulder when he finally gives up and falls sleep. I love the 100% pissed off cry that he gives during the 2 seconds it takes me to get organized to feed him, when Curtis brings him to bed at night and lays him next to me. I love his happy little face when he wakes up smiling every morning. And I love that Anna, even though she is usually IMPOSSIBLE to wake up, will jump out of bed and come snuggle Zach at the mere whisper of 'Your brother is awake now...'. We are so, so very blessed. Life is good.

Do you remember my post about Anna and the Rubix cube? (Actually, given my infrequent blogging lately, it was probably not that long ago here. I *do* plan to blog again someday...when I have 30 seconds to myself. :) )

Anyway...Curtis just got an iPhone. And among the many useless, but WAY cool, apps, he found the Cube Cheater App. It lets you take a picture of each side of your Rubix cube, which it translates into its software to show the current state of the cube. Then is shows you, in 3D, what moves to make to solve the cube, step by step. We got it as messed up as we could, and it solved it in 22 moves. Un-freaking-real. This is, without question, my only hope of ever solving a Rubix Cube. Totally useless...and way too fun.

...banged your head against a brick wall repeatedly...I mean, tried to solve a Rubix Cube? Anna has, for some reason, been enthralled by the Rubix Cube and she kept begging me to buy one for her. I tried putting her off, telling her it would just be frustrating, changing the subject, avoiding them...all to no avail. Finally, we conceded, knowing full well how this would end.

It took approximately .67 seconds to irreparably mix up the damned thing. (I say approximately, because my finger couldn't start and stop the stopwatch as fast as she could screw up the pretty matching color sides.) Curtis and I exchanged a look, and knew that this was one of those parenting moments that we needed to 'rise to the occasion' for. So we did.

We taught her to cheat. I mean, seriously, I spent a long time in my childhood (at least 10 minutes or so) trying to solve one of those things before someone taught me how to cheat my way back to color coded bliss. Mine was so loose from being repeatedly popped apart and back together that it had a hard time staying in rows to turn normally. Apparently, Curtis had a similar experience, because he whipped it apart and reassembled it in record time.

So, Anna is still thrilled with the Rubix cube. But now she brings it to me every few minutes and says in her sweet little voice, "Mommy, will you help me cheat?" Ahhh...out of the mouths of babes.