Needy Again

I spend almost all of each day, everyday, with Andrina. And that is the way I want it to be, until she is able to start an early-childhood school part time. As I have blogged numerous times before, she is very easy-going and therefore, usually quite easy to take care of. Although I have noticed a pattern in her behavior over the past few days. When I am in the kitchen in the evenings cooking dinner and therefore not focused on her, that is when she gets really needy and wants to be held. I'm not surprised by this. Well today she simply would not take "no" for an answer while I was trying to cook. So I pulled out a baby carrier and strapped her to my hip while I cooked. She was quite content to snuggle up against me and watch me cook.

Look at her face-Andrina is still a baby! I don't care if she is technically a toddler, I know her and she has way too much baby in her to really be considered a toddler yet.

The sling. I really didn't use a sling too much when Andrina was a younger baby. I also am very fortunate to have a cleaning service out here every week, so they do about 80% of the cleaning (not counting the everyday dishes and laundry which I've always done). And I only recently started cooking a lot so I never really needed to have Andrina in a sling while trying to get housework or cooking done. But now I see that this one attached to my hip may be getting a lot more use!

Of course Andrina wanted spice bottles that I was working with, so I gave her one to shake around while I cooked. Oh, and it is plastic, not glass.

I've also noticed a pattern in myself. Lately I've been cooking a lot. I've been making dinner about 3 to 4 days a week, which is a lot for me. As autumn came, my desire for homemade soups has increased with the colder weather. And since I am trying to save money in this awful recession (yes, it is a recession I don't care if the Bush Administration keeps denying it), I have been very conscientious shopping the sales at the grocery store. A few weeks ago there was a sale on Hamburger Helper-11 boxes for $10. And when I included the coupons that I clip every Sunday, it was even cheaper. So I have many boxes of Hamburger Helper and that's what dinner was tonight. Although I add vegetables to mine so it's healthier for everyone and Andrina will grow up with vegetables as the norm with every meal so she'll be less likely to shun them.