Et Two, Bebe?

Anna is now officially--not just behaviorally--a two-year-old. After she got her eyes uncrossed, she wished for a pony, a helicopter, a sixteen-year moratorium on naps, and a lifetime supply of bananas and Goldfish crackers.

Last week she checked out at the doctor's office at a little over 27 pounds, 34 inches ("36 with the afro," for you Fletch lovers). People often think she seems tall and is older than she is, but she's right in the middle of the growth curve at around the 50th percentile for height and weight. Big change from her 10th percentile days! She still has a big head, though. Developmentally she is on track with the exception of speech--more on that in another post.

Some of her favorite things right now are anything that makes noise, like the little piano she got for Christmas; she mostly likes to push the button that makes it play "ABC" by the Jackson Five. So often that I had a dream about the dumb song! She also likes her little laptop with learning games, but they are really for older kids, so she mostly likes to hold down the volume button that makes a little monkey say EEH-EEH! EEH-EEH! EEH-EEH! a hundred times consecutively. So often that I threatened to smash the thing into a pulp with her precious bananas. Or maybe with the similarly charming birthday card with the dying singing cats.

For Christmas she also got play food from us and from my parents, plus plastic pots and a shopping cart (the cart is still en route from Michigan), all of which she loves. Some of the food velcroes together so you can slice it and stack it into sandwiches and burgers.

She will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!

Anna also loves her baby doll, balloons from the grocery store produce guy, telephones, Sesame Street, Mr. Potato Head, and the music between Wii Sports games. She's learned to take off her diaper and open certain doors, including, I'm pretty sure, the baby gate cutting her off from the Spiral Staircase of Doom. We are so screwed.

Sharing is . . . not something she has mastered.

Her favorite word is currently "bye." If you appear to be leaving the house (or simply the room), she will shout "Bye! Byeeeeeee!" She sometimes puts one of her little bags over her shoulder like a purse and heads for the door, announcing "Bye! Bye!" And when former President Bush's helicopter took off, she waved frantically at the TV and yelled "BYEEEEEEEEE! BYEEEEE! BYE!" But he shouldn't take it personally because she kept doing it to Wolf Blitzer too. That guy can not take a hint.

Food-wise she's doing just what the doctor said two-year-olds do: being picky and eating nothing sometimes, then at other times eating to rival her father. I'm glad to have her past the two mark so she can eat everything and anything and doesn't need whole milk anymore. Please, please let her quickly develop a love for the economical protein wonder that is peanut butter...

After we cut out milk before naps and bed, I realized I should move her nap up earlier in the afternoon since she's mellow after lunch. I started putting her down before 1:00 instead of at 2:00 and she slept three full hours five days in a row! Why didn't someone tell me this before?

She also napped for a sitter yesterday, which frankly I didn't think she'd do. She was cranky as heck all evening and wailing at bedtime, though--perhaps letting me know she did not appreciate that disruption to our daytime routine? She usually only has a sitter during evening play hours, and she is always fine with it. Still, I'm glad to know we could leave her with someone over naptime or bedtime and she would probably go to sleep fine. Maybe someday we will do something crazy like go to the movies . . . ah, who am I kidding? Crazy for us is staying up late enough to watch CSI and American Idol!

And that's life with Little Miss Two!

Twenty-One

Anna is 21 now. Months, that is, though it seems it will be years before we know it. One day a week or so ago we couldn't stop staring at her--has she grown inches and months in one day? Maybe it was what she was wearing or her hair ("six-five, with the afro six-nine..."), but she seemed oh so grown up all of a sudden.




Favorites at 21 months:

• Words: water (pronounced "dowww"), hi, hot, football
• Food: cheese, fruit, pizza
• Clothes: shoes, because they mean going somewhere; half-removed pajamas
  
• Activities: running, dancing/spinning, sitting on dog, looking at pictures of herself
• Sport: "Foobaaaaaall!" (raises arms in touchdown signal)
• Places: Beach, playground, Aaron's office or nursery at church
• Toys: balls, books, Magnadoodle, baby doll, coasters, slammable drawer, food
  
• People: Dadadadadada! (as he's called when he comes home), MAMA! (as I'm summoned downstairs to say goodnight), cheerleaders, teenagers, church ladies, and our friend the big rough redneck Dreamy Lumberjack (go figure)
• Mode of protest: Full body sprawl

She is working on words but seems to be more into motions/actions. For example, she'll strum on her stomach like playing the guitar when she sees one or a picture of one (or a violin) or to indicate where one is, like the front of church where Aaron plays. She can point to lots of body parts but not say them. She does a lot of very insistent pointing and patting and dragging you by the finger to indicate what she wants or where she wants you. I don't know if this means anything about her speech or learning style or not--is she a physical learner, perhaps? But she is slowly increasing her vocabulary too and certainly chatters frequently and sometimes incredibly loudly.

If she's upset she will do the toddler full body sprawl, spinning around if she's holding your hand and throwing herself onto the ground. This was charming when she tried it in the post office, but unfortunately for her didn't embarrass me.

Generally she's very good in public though. She will test us at home and if necessary gets a time-out in a chair in the corner. Recently she got about five in a row because when Aaron told her to put her books on the bookshelf (yes, she knows how) or she'd get another time out, she kept choosing the chair. Literally. She went back to it. Of course when he put her in it she realized that she wouldn't rather be there. She still tried ignoring him, though, so he kept at it. Quite an entertaining show they put on for me, really. SuperNanny would be proud of my man!

She is really into Winnie the Pooh and football. If she sees anything football related--game or commercial on TV, picture of football or helmet, football players on the back of the box of crackers--she says "Foobbaaaaaallll!" and raises her hands like the touchdown signal. She also knows how to push a small football behind her through her legs when I say "hut hut!" (I am training her for the oft-overlooked position of long snapper, since it is an important specialization with relatively low risk of injury, less glory but still plenty of cash to take care of her momma in her old age.)

She loves to go to the school playground and go on the slides, go for walks out behind our house, and help me pick eat the blackberries around our house.

Best of all, she loves hugs, cuddles, tickles, and us.

Is that a teenager scarfing down all our pizza?



Must be. She has the pouty face down.

Miscellaneous May

We are having a heat wave. Here on the coast that means 80 degrees and one billion tourists. It’s going to be even hotter tomorrow—pushing 90—and I was already sweating all afternoon. I have become weak. But Anna can wear her cute sundresses!

I am hoping to finish reading Prince Caspian tonight before we go to the movie tomorrow. Last trip to the movie theater was July 2007 (for Harry Potter V). And we’ve rented exactly one movie since then. What can we say—TV shows are more our after-baby’s-bedtime attention span these days. (Long live David Cook.)

I have new work which is paid at a flat rate instead of by the hour. You’d think this would motivate me to burn right through it, but so far it’s not meshing well with the nice weather and movie plans.

John Edwards made my day yesterday. Love that two Americas spiel ('cuz it's true) and the focus on cutting U.S. poverty in half in ten years. GR is in shock because they weren’t aware there were any Democrats in GR, let alone 15,000+. All my GR people were calling me and bragging. Okay, not all my people. Those who like Obama and/or just get excited when Bland Vapids makes CNN (*cough* Mom).

Next week Aaron is going to Michigan by himself for his brother’s wedding, and then a friend from there is coming back with him to visit (which I keep forgetting about). It’s a horrible time of year for a trip—so much end of the school year stuff going on—so he’s extra busy this week and it will be a short trip. It may feel long for me, depending how much baby girl wears me down. Props to you single parents who do it all the time.

In related news, with the pediatrician’s encouragement, Little Ms. Independence has been introduced to the concept of Time Out. It’s just a minute or two in her crib alone (screaming) for offenses such as malicious destruction of property, attempted injury/dismemberment of self or others, and willful driving of mother to insanity.

Ah yes, the doctor. Anna had a checkup last week and she is officially older, bigger, and more skilled in the arts of growing up. She’s 22.5 pounds and 30 inches tall. She has a big head and six teeth. She has a few new skills (scribbling, kissing, attempted use of spoon) and a few new words (doggie, moo, Obama). She got two shots but only screamed madly for about one minute.

She is certified adorable, but you didn’t need a doctor to tell you that. You only need a photo fix. Here are a few from Mother's Day, which was a normal Sunday—mellow in between busy—but nice. We wore our red clothes for Pentecost. The red shoes were her birthday present and can I just say I stinking love them and that sweater?

In the evening the youth group played a hilarious imitation of softball (90 percent of us having no softball skills whatsoever). Anna demanded, between sippys, to hear some chatter out there.

Today she was my laundry helper, handing me the clothespins one at a time. Later she was happy to take them back and put them in the bag.

And if you think that's adorable . . . wait till you see her discovering she loves the slide at the school!

Toofies, Threefies, Fourfies

First there were toofies. Then . . . threefies!

Hello, Snaggletooth!

Now . . . fourfies!



And doggone cute!

Favorites at 9 Months

Here's an update on what Anna is up to and into now that she's over the 9 month mark.

Size: She has grown so much! She's almost 18 pounds and 27 inches. She's out of some of her cute small clothes and into her cute bigger clothes (no fashion shortage here) and #3 diapers.

Words: Ear-piercing happy screams, vowels, and dadadadadadadada (may or may not be directed at Dad, dog, chair, wall, etc.)

Transportation: Rolling, rotating, scooting on her stomach - now getting up on her knees and rocking - look out!

Foods: Formula, cereal with veggies or fruit, paper

Favorite toys: Paper, books, stuffed cow, Daddy, the dog's bone, whatever she's not supposed to have

Favorite hobbies/games: Dancing, shrieking, giggling, eating, bouncing on the big bed, clapping, chasing doggie, human lint brush

Favorite books: The Very Hungry Caterpilar, Time for Bed (to read); the phone book (to eat)

Favorite music: Hey Ya (acoustic mommy version); You and Me by Lifehouse; Eternal Flame by The Bangles. Likes oldies, '80s, church music, and anything with a good beat you can dance to. Undecided on NPR and The Killers (she's got soul, but she's not a soldier).

Ahh, kids today - growin' up so fast!

Big A, Little A

The Big A, Aaron, is slowly getting his energy back up and his pain and narcotics down. He generally feels pretty good during the day, although he tires very easily. He also has this weird hot/cold thing going on. During the day he is down to just Tylenol, but at night he has more pain and needs prescription meds. Please keep praying for less pain and better sleep . . . especially since the doctor didn't want to give us the A-OK for Ethiopia until after he's off his pain meds. Meanwhile, though, our agency is planning an embassy date for us. I feel weird and sneaky again being half-committed, half-waiting. I hope we can have a conversation with the doctor early next week (before he is out of town) and he says it's okay to move forward. 'Cuz I'd hate to have to disobey him, but I need to buy tickets.

Meanwhile Little A, Anna, is going on with the business of growing up. Specifically, up to 11 pounds 10 ounces and 22.8 inches. Apparently she got shorter since her last measurement (23 1/2 inches)--or, more likely, she likes to squirm. Someday she'll even fit in her sweaters.





A big thank-you to Joyce and Rick for keeping me company and helping us out during all this! Hope you are back on the right time zone and enjoying that big wannabe-ocean of yours.

Anna at 4+ Months

We received an update on Anna today:

• 10 pounds 2 ounces
• 23 1/2 inches
• 100% adorable!