Moved ...

I have decided to combine my Marta and Anna blogs at the following address.

http://martaplusanna.blogspot.com/

Hockey!

Today we went to the shopping center near our home. In the middle of the shopping center is a big ice skating rink, and today two hockey teams were playing one another.

At the same time we were eating breakfast. Epp went to take Marta to the toilet, and I was alone with Anna, who was cranky because she wanted to nurse. I held her up facing the rink from our seat, and suddenly she became very interested in these guys skating across the ice, chasing a puck back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ...

Later on Epp was trying on clothes, Marta was playing a play area with other kids, and I was holding Anna who was asleep. She woke up and started cranking and then saw the hockey players again. Well, she must have sat there watching hockey for 15 or 20 minutes. She was simply mesmerized by the whole spectacle.

It was actually qute funny to see a two-month old baby get sucked into anything like that, let alone hockey. But there she was, Anna, our little hockey fan.

List of things to do

I have had quite a few interesting conversations with little Anna these days. The first went something like this:

Me: Anna, why did you pee on your emme's t-shirt?

Anna: Soft baby grunts.

Me: Do you like being a baby?

Anna: Soft gurgling sounds continue.

Me: But you really like tissi piim (breast milk) right?

Anna: Turns head, gurgles some more.

Me: Ok. I know what your favorite is. Bath time is your favorite. Right?

Anna: Raises arm, looks around, farts.

Perfect.

Today we made a list of things to do. Her schedule if you may. We decided to pencil in.

1) Fill up diaper
2) Get diaper changed
3) Cry (a little)
4) Be held and comforted
5) Eat
6) Fall asleep
7) Lie on back staring at interesting furniture
8) Cry some more
9) Get diaper changed
10) Be held and comforted

Et cetera.

Just one more plum ...

When Anna first started farting, it was really cute. Her little baby face would wrinkle, she would squirm and struggle and then ... barrumpff! ... great success.

I am intrigued by my child's youth. I imagine that if she lives long, she could keep on farting straight up until the 2080s and beyond. And here I am, sharing her first gasses with her.

Her farting though has taken on less appealing dimensions however. We have a plum tree in the front yard, and Epp likes to shake the tree, sinking her teeth into a new, plump, gas-inducing plum. Epp has been farting since 1974 -- she's a pro. But poor Anna's stomach muscles are still undeveloped, and the gas she inherits through her emme's breast milk is making her evening hours a living hell.

So the decision has been made to cut down on plums for Anna's sake.

A Little Elephant

What is Anna like? She is only a little more than over a week old. But she already is showing us her personality. Anna so far is undemanding. She only cries when she has poopy in her diapers or if she is hungry for ... mmm ... milk.

Anna really likes company. She likes to just lie down next to me and look in my eyes. I talk to her as much as I can, mostly about her and her body. "Do you know you have hands?" I say holding her little hands. "Do you know you have fur?" I say, lightly stroking the blonde baby fuzz on her arms.

Anna tries to talk to us. But what comes out sounding sort of like a baby elephant. I can't even write what the sounds are like, but you who have children probably know them. I have imitated them, and Marta now tries to imitate them.

I asked Epp why people always want to know how big a baby is. I mean, who care how long it is when it comes out? She said that it's really the only information we know about our babies. Kusti, a friend of Aap's said it is good that Anna is a peaceful child, considering how moody our other daughter is. I think that babies fill voids left in families though. There was no room for another Marta. But there is plenty of room for an Anna.

We do know somethings though. Anna is a crabby Cancer -- like Epp. I tend to get along well with these Cancers. I am a Scorpio. Astrology seems mostly like bullshit, but us Scorpios have a tendency for pissing people off. I think we like to. Well, good thing Anna is not a Scorpio.

Anna also has royal names. Anna Margaret sounds like a princesses' name -- Dutch, British, Norwegian, Swedish -- pick your house of royalty, you're likely to find an Anna or a Margaret. Marta Maria, in contrast, sounds like a Cuban nun or a Brazilian lounge singer. We had that in mind when Marta was born. We wanted a punchy kid with a strong name -- and boy did we get one! This one though, by default, has to go with the flow. So far she has. Right now she is just a pleasant little gnome that makes little elephant noises and doesn't mind when her big sister squeezes her head a little too hard.