XI: Annie's latest exploits
Greetings from the Northeast. I'm happy to announce another addition to the list, namely my cousin Theresa, who along with her husband Ben and their son Nicholas, will be suffering with the rest of you. For those of you who keep track of these sorts of things, this brings the total number of email addresses on the list up to twenty-six, and the number of readers up to four.
I'm on a train heading to Connecticut, so, even though we haven't done a lot lately, I felt compelled to waste your time anyway. Today I thought I would update you on the recent antics of our youngest, Ann Elise, on the occasion of her 18-month birthday.
You may recall some time ago I told you about the arduous process of waste disposal here in New Jersey - specifically that you must separate all refuse into containers depending on what that refuse is...they call it "recycling" or something like that. Anyway, we here in the Watson house must add an additional step to the process -- we need to check the containers for things Annie has thrown away. Annie is quiet, relatively speaking, and she "flies under the radar" you might say. Recently, I was sitting in the kitchen, trying to stealthily eat a meal (more on this in a minute), and Annie wandered in, with one of my hats in her hand. She waddled over to the trash can, opened the lid, and threw the hat in. Then she waddled into another room. So far, we've rescued bowls, underpants, cups, hats, shampoo from the bathroom, and a book. Usually you see people put a cinder block on their outside trash can, to keep the animals out -- not us, ours is on the inside cans. Anyway, who knows what household items have actually made it to the curb unbeknownst to us. Maybe Annie read Thoreau and she's trying to simplify our lives. Maybe she is trying to tell us she doesn't like our choice in consumer goods. I think she's just a booger.
Oh, quick tangent for some other big news, this time involving Maggie -- we have fewer diapers to buy. That’s right, bribed with the prospect of M&M's and "prinpress anties" (underwear with Disney princesses on them), Maggie tackled the potty-training step of her young life in a matter of days. Now if we can just get Annie to want to be like her big sister....
Back to Annie. Annie's other antics generally revolve around the consumption of food. She likes food. All food. Well, except for peaches. But that's it. Peaches. That's the one thing she won't eat. Tomorrow I will begin a steady diet of peaches. Why? Well, perhaps an illustration of a standard Saturday morning will help explain:
6:55 am. "Jim, the girls are up"
7:25 am. "Jim, the girls. They're up"
7:32 am. "Hi Dad" (says Maggie ... Annie now heard screaming in other room)
7:33 am. Breakfast for Maggie and Annie -- usually Cheerios or similar whole-grain cereal "with milk on emmm"
7:45 am. Maggie off doing something else. Annie asking for seconds.
7:59 am. Open new box of cereal for Annie's third helping.
8:11 am. Annie off to find things to throw in trash.
8:49 am. Jimmy is awake, asking for breakfast. Re-open box of cereal (quietly), and pour him a bowl. Annie, with freakish supersonic hearing that bats would envy, hears the rustling of plastic and is now waddle-sprinting down the hallway.
8:50 am. Annie, using her belly as a lever, springs herself into the chair next to Jimmy.
8:51 am. Pour Annie fourth bowl of cereal.
9:17 am. With kids distracted, I sit down to have a bowl of cereal.
9:18 am. Having heard rustled plastic, Annie enters. Repeat steps four thru ten.
The other night, the kids were eating chicken nuggets. Maggie got up from the table to "go potty." As Reege was assisting Princess Margaret in the necessary room, Annie got down from her chair, waddled over to Maggie's chair, sprung herself up on to the seat, and began dining on her sister's fare.
Fun times.
Hope you all are doing well.
Jim
I'm on a train heading to Connecticut, so, even though we haven't done a lot lately, I felt compelled to waste your time anyway. Today I thought I would update you on the recent antics of our youngest, Ann Elise, on the occasion of her 18-month birthday.
You may recall some time ago I told you about the arduous process of waste disposal here in New Jersey - specifically that you must separate all refuse into containers depending on what that refuse is...they call it "recycling" or something like that. Anyway, we here in the Watson house must add an additional step to the process -- we need to check the containers for things Annie has thrown away. Annie is quiet, relatively speaking, and she "flies under the radar" you might say. Recently, I was sitting in the kitchen, trying to stealthily eat a meal (more on this in a minute), and Annie wandered in, with one of my hats in her hand. She waddled over to the trash can, opened the lid, and threw the hat in. Then she waddled into another room. So far, we've rescued bowls, underpants, cups, hats, shampoo from the bathroom, and a book. Usually you see people put a cinder block on their outside trash can, to keep the animals out -- not us, ours is on the inside cans. Anyway, who knows what household items have actually made it to the curb unbeknownst to us. Maybe Annie read Thoreau and she's trying to simplify our lives. Maybe she is trying to tell us she doesn't like our choice in consumer goods. I think she's just a booger.
Oh, quick tangent for some other big news, this time involving Maggie -- we have fewer diapers to buy. That’s right, bribed with the prospect of M&M's and "prinpress anties" (underwear with Disney princesses on them), Maggie tackled the potty-training step of her young life in a matter of days. Now if we can just get Annie to want to be like her big sister....
Back to Annie. Annie's other antics generally revolve around the consumption of food. She likes food. All food. Well, except for peaches. But that's it. Peaches. That's the one thing she won't eat. Tomorrow I will begin a steady diet of peaches. Why? Well, perhaps an illustration of a standard Saturday morning will help explain:
6:55 am. "Jim, the girls are up"
7:25 am. "Jim, the girls. They're up"
7:32 am. "Hi Dad" (says Maggie ... Annie now heard screaming in other room)
7:33 am. Breakfast for Maggie and Annie -- usually Cheerios or similar whole-grain cereal "with milk on emmm"
7:45 am. Maggie off doing something else. Annie asking for seconds.
7:59 am. Open new box of cereal for Annie's third helping.
8:11 am. Annie off to find things to throw in trash.
8:49 am. Jimmy is awake, asking for breakfast. Re-open box of cereal (quietly), and pour him a bowl. Annie, with freakish supersonic hearing that bats would envy, hears the rustling of plastic and is now waddle-sprinting down the hallway.
8:50 am. Annie, using her belly as a lever, springs herself into the chair next to Jimmy.
8:51 am. Pour Annie fourth bowl of cereal.
9:17 am. With kids distracted, I sit down to have a bowl of cereal.
9:18 am. Having heard rustled plastic, Annie enters. Repeat steps four thru ten.
The other night, the kids were eating chicken nuggets. Maggie got up from the table to "go potty." As Reege was assisting Princess Margaret in the necessary room, Annie got down from her chair, waddled over to Maggie's chair, sprung herself up on to the seat, and began dining on her sister's fare.
Fun times.
Hope you all are doing well.
Jim
posted by Watts at 6:42 PM
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