annie faces

Hey, Gary Ehrlich has his own blatherings-like page! :-) Check out his Expoundings.

Had dinner at my sister's last night. Sadly, I've been unable to do my usual weekly
babysitting stint recently because of recent work developments, so it was great seeing
Sara and Annie again. Rushed through dinner (Sara: "Auntie Debbie, you look like you're
finished your dinner...will you come play with me now?"). Played with Sara for a bit, then
Annie (while Jeff played with Sara). Annie's vocab is MUCH easier to understand in person
than over the phone.

My niece Annie has discovered that making grown-ups laugh is fun, by the way. And it's DARNED hard not laughing sometimes when I know I really shouldn't be (e.g. when she's just smeared a handful of icecream in her hair and is looking around to see people's reactions...I can almost HEAR my sister sending "Laugh and I will kill you" vibes at me as we all struggle to keep straight faces). Annie is also experimenting with different facial expressions to see which ones make people laugh. Ruth didn't warn me about this, and I was in hysterics last night, laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. Ruth and Kaarel came into the living room to see what was going on, and found me on the floor gasping for breath while Annie leaned mercilessly over me, contorting her face, obviously revelling in her newfound power.

And she's not even two yet. I think I'm in trouble...

To Joey: Thanks for the good luck wishes, and no, it won't jinx my book. :-) The proposal's been approved (it's non-fiction) and I'm waiting for the contract to be sent to my agent and all the legal signing stuff to be done before Officially Announcing it. Tentative publication date is next spring.
To Joel: "Musicosis"...ha, I like that term. :-) To Annie: thanks for the reassurances about not entirely understanding kid language. And yes, Ruth does the same thing (calling out translations in the background when I'm on the phone with Annie). To Joe Neff: I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO POINT THAT OUT. :D