Why is it when I write my post in Microsoft Word and then cut and paste it into Blogger that all punctuation (apostrophe's and the like) turn into garbly-gook? That's the technical term by the way. And yet, when I compose directly into the Blogger field, it's fine? Frustrating.

Anyway, Annika is still a leaky faucet. I won't dissect the color and texture of the bodily fluids coming out of her, let's just say she still has a cold. Thankfully, it hasn't turned into an ear infection yet although we are on the look out for that.

Last night Annika and I stopped by Gramme and Grandpa Merv's house to drop off a Christmas present. We stayed for a few minutes so Annika could play with the dog, the dog's toys, the Christmas tree, eat a banana and then resist leaving so fiercely I had to pry her little tiny arms from around Gramme's neck. While cute and endearing and had Gramme totally swooning, it was not quite as fun for mama. I think we need to go visit a little more often. Our next stop was Granpda Dan's house to pick up what we forgot there on Christmas Day. Again, we stayed a short while so Annika could play with Uncle Mathias, the playstation controllers, the bean bag chair and tear apart the Sunday paper. Again, Annika didn't want to go home and proceeded to run around the house in circles (from the foyer to the breakfast nook to the kitchen to the dining room to the living room and back to the foyer) before I could catch her to put her coat on. Of course, she was sleeping in the back seat before we were too far away from Grandpa's house but she didn't want to leave nonetheless.

Kris and I are amazed every day with house much Annika knows and understands. She had Gramme convinced she was saying "cute" last night when playing with the Christmas tree ornaments. And Monday night while giving her a bath, I asked Annika to give me one of her feet so I could wash it. She held up both. I washed one, put it back in the water and asked for her other foot. She held up her other foot. I think Kris is starting to understand that she is aware of more than we think. And that we need to watch what we say and do and watch on TV and listen to on the radio more than he thinks we do.

I'm really itching to redesign the site. The lullabies theme just isn't working for me anymore. Of course, I don't have tons of extra time to do this. Watch for something new coming soon, I hope.