Independence? Not yet.

So, lately I've been trying to get Anne-Kelly to be a tad bit more independent. Mostly this just means trying to encourage her to entertain herself while playing on a quilt (she can sometimes do this for about 10-15 minutes, which I consider good), hanging out for a few minutes in her Pack n Play while I do some cleaning or make up the bed (we're usually good with this as long as I talk/sing/make silly noises), and today, we worked on enjoying the Exersaucer. In case you don't know what an Exersaucer is, I'll explain. It's just like old-school walkers with the little bucket seat in the middle and all the toys around, except it doesn't roll around. It's on a little teeter-tottering saucer. This is beneficial for those of us with hardwood floors and rugs, as I've heard that walkers can easily get caught on the edge of rugs and flip over.

So, back to the main story. I put Anne-Kelly in her cute little pink and purple Exersaucer (bought secondhand at Jordan's Closet, my favorite children's resale store!), played with a few of the toys with her, and then walked into my kitchen to work on cleaning up from feeding Anne-Kelly. I was in the kitchen perhaps somewhere around 27 seconds when suddenly, I heard a little whimper. I peeked over the kitchen bar into the living room and saw that Anne-Kelly had not only started whimpering, but she had decided she was not at all interested in any of the fabulous toys on her Exersaucer. Since, like I said, it was just a whimper, I continued with my kitchen cleanup. The whimper soon became a yell, at which point she picked up her little butterfly teether and bit it angrily. However, that didn't pacify her for long, and the teething and occasional yelling soon became a bloodcurdling howl, at which point I decided to come pick her up. When I did pick her up, she immediately turned off the waterworks and gave me a great big smile. I know, some might say this means she's a little bit spoiled, but I just don't believe it. Hope y'all are having a great Friday!

Here's a play-by-play of the Exersaucer incident.