I'm not your puppet.

‘Tis the season of holiday parties and last weekend, my mothers’ group had their first one. It was wonderful. There was awesome food and the kids all got along and there was even a puppet show! At first, I thought Annie was going to write a critique for the New York Times because of her very serious demeanor while watching, but then as it went along, every time an “act” would end, she’d look at me and say, “No, no, no...” So after the party ended and we asked her how the show was, she replied “Crap?” Or so we thought. Then we figured out after more investigation and a certain mother’s intuition that she was in fact saying, “Clap?” Shortly afterwards, she added “Clap is noisy?” So I then figured out what disturbed her about the show... the applause. Annie has an aversion to loud noises. This was the first time Annie had been exposed in her toddler-hood consciousness to a live performance and didn’t quite get the spontaneous clapping that would happen after the puppeteer completed a scene. So, after understanding that, I’m pretty sure she really enjoyed the show, just not the people making noise with their hands after it. Above is a shot of her and her friend Sara Kate (and their matching shoes) watching the show. It really was a great time.

This week, I’m trying to get into the Christmas spirit the best I can despite the lack of a Christmas tree. We haven’t gotten one for several years because A) we have cats, really ornery cats; and B) we’re out of town for two weeks during Christmas, so it hasn’t really made sense. But now that Annie’s more aware of her surroundings, I can see how she would really enjoy one. That said, we are going to have one in Connecticut once we get up there which she will be able to help decorate. I’ll be sure to whip out the camera for that one. In the mean time, to make up for it, I'm baking a lot of cookies. This can't be good.