Body Parts and Hidden Talents

I'm really starting to believe (notice the whispered tone cause I'm afraid to say it too loud) that Anna Grace has turned a corner with her attachment issues. Since her surgery, I've had her sit with me to watch movies on TV, she's played, laughed and I've even been blessed with an "I love you, Mama" almost daily. These have happened during quiet times and not play time. So, I know they're real. A little strange that most have been during potty time while I'm sitting on the bathroom floor waiting for her to be wiped, but hey, I'll take 'em whenever she wants to say it.

Since coming home from the hospital, she's been a non-stop chatterbox. Asking why about everything and wanting to share with me all the going-ons in her world. Which sometimes drives me crazy is a little much since it's been almost constant, but I've tried to encourage as much interaction as possible with her so I do my best to appear that I'm listening intently. That even goes for the times that she's telling me, while I'm on the phone, about her favorite episode of Max and Ruby for the 100th time.

That leads me to today's adventure with Miss Anna Grace. When I picked Amanda up from school the 3 little ones were already in the car. I needed to pick up dinner at the grocery store, so instead of lugging 4 kids there, I dropped Amanda off at home with the two boys and headed to the store with Anna Grace.

I plopped her in the front of the shopping cart and soon thereafter the chatting commenced. It was first about cookies, then dinner, and so on. As we are walking up and down the aisles, she is now attracting more attention than usual with her loud, squeaky voice emphatically rattling off whatever was going through her little mind. All this while I'm trying hard to concentrate on why I'm at the store in the first place. Each aisle brings a new admirer that stops to comment about how pretty she is followed by asking what happened to her arm since she has a cast up to her shoulder. When this occurs, she then quiets down a bit after being questioned (a great sign of attachment!) and looks at me to answer for her. Well, after about 15 minutes of being at the store, she was talking to me about noodles and why is spaghetti called spaghetti and not noodles...blah...blah....blah.

While we are standing in front of the pasta, a man who I would guess was about 50 years old comes up and says, "Oh my! What happened to you?" Anna Grace quickly lowers her voice and whispers something about her hand. I'm sure he didn't understand because then his glance turns to meet my eyes and says, "Did she cut off her hand?" HUH? My mind couldn't figure out what he was asking so I stood there. I'm assuming he then realized he was asking something pretty far out there, so he quickly follows it up with "I'm sorry for being nosy. I just didn't see her hand and I thought she had cut it off and it was a stump." By this time, Anna Grace is back to chit-chatting to herself. I must've stood there bewildered because I said nothing, but instead was immediately brought back to reality when all of a sudden, I feel Anna Grace grab and cup my left breast in her hand (this probably just made my blog an R rating) and proceeded to say at the top of her lungs with the man standing about a foot away from me, "Mama, you have nice boobies!" WHHHAAATTT? Did she just say what I thought she said?

If I looked bewildered and stupid before the man's inquisition, after that comment I must've really looked like a deer in headlights. I turn to her, remove her hand which was still on my boob and said, "Anna Grace, that's not nice. We don't say those things." Then, the Mama in me thought for a split second, "Was she giving me a compliment? Did I just blow her off when she was being nice?" There was total confusion in my brain as it scrambled to come up with something to say. I then realized that Mr. Nosy was still standing there. This time with a creepy, sheepish grin on his face. By the look on my face, he realized that I was completely embarrassed and softly uttered, "Kids come up with the silliest things. Don't they?" as he briskly walked away. "Ummm...yes", is all I could muster to bring forth from my mouth. I quickly finished my shopping, carefully peeking into each aisle before turning the corner in order to make sure that I had no more run-ins with Mr. Nosy. Thank you, Anna Grace. Another one for the books.

Moving right along. You guys are too funny! I've gotten a few comments and even some emails asking what the secret is to making myself sneeze. Well, being that Mistee has that same talent and I'm dying to know if she does it the same way I do, I will share my secret. Mind you, it doesn't work for everyone because Amanda and Scott have both tried, to no avail. That's why I really thought it was my incredibly unique talent (can you see the busted bubble?) or maybe I just have a deviated septum. Heh!

Ok. Are you paying close attention? You first feel for the boniest part of the bridge of your nose. Once you find that spot, you move your index finger and thumb just below it and tightly pinch it while breathing in. VOILA! A sneeze! And I gotta tell you, I just did it twice and sneezed both times. Didn't I tell ya I crack myself up? Now that I shared my secret, you guys be honest and 'fess up as to how many of you just tried this. You did, didn't you? Was it successful? If so, welcome to the I-can-make-myself-sneeze club!