Back Home -- Day 993

Well, we are back home from our vacation. Anna stayed with the Texas Grandparents in Houston while Kerry and I went on a week-long vacation to Trinidad. I'll say more about Trinidad in another post, but Anna sure had a fun time in Texas. She swam, played, read, played some more, then eventually caught a bug and got sick. Then she went to the pediatrician, slept, played, got bronchitis, slept, played some more, went back to the pediatrician and then flew back home with Mom and Dad. That is the quick and dirty summary.

Even though Anna was under the weather, she still had a very good time, and for the first time she was away from both parents. But she handled it like a big girl and took it in stride. All in all, the whole program (vacation + babysitting) worked out better than expected.

Some of the highlights were: Anna's rendition of Oh Shenandoah on the piano (see photo), having a swimming lesson, doing art work with a neighbor girl, chasing Jack (the cat), and eating way too much ice cream. I'm still a bit surprised she was given a whole ice cream cone. Proportionally, this would be similar to me eating at least a half quart of ice cream in one sitting. I'm afraid to ask if they put sprinkles on it too.

Some things that weren't highlights were Anna learning to pick her nose. I am not sure where that came from, but don't ask don't tell -- right? She also didn't care for seeing Sponge Bob, after which she said, "It was a bit disappointing." Elmo was supposed to show up instead. And of course, she could have done without the sickness.

Well, that is all I will write for now. I am sure more happened during Anna's stay, but as I wasn't there, it is a bit difficult to recount and more difficult to write about. I am sure some of it would be quite entertaining, but then again, it is probably better that I don't know everything. I'm sure a fair bit of spoiling took place, so I'll take my information in smaller quantities and without sprinkles please.

Time Out Variation -- Day 979

Today I was eating with Anna and she decided to play with her food in a potentially very messy way, so I asked her nicely to stop. She didn't. I asked again; she didn't again. And so it went on as you can probably imagine.

When she finally stopped I asked her why she didn't listen to Daddy after I had asked her nicely to stop. Anna then says, "Because Nya-Nya doesn't listen to Daddy." Of course, she is also a toddler, but I thought I would take this idea and run with it a bit.

At that point I said, "Well, then the Nya-Nyas are going to have to have a time out for not listening to Daddy." I marched upstairs, grabbed the mangy duo, put them on the couch, and set the timer for two minutes. You should have seen how much crying Anna did; she howled the whole time. And when it was all done, she went over to the couch, comforted them and gave them a white bowl with some granola.

I'll see how this type of punishment works out. It seems to have some promise.

By the way, Anna has named her Nya-Nyas. One is now called Emily and the other one is Chloe, and just a minute ago, Emily apparently spilled the bowl of granola all over the couch. When I vacuumed it up, Anna made sure to hold Emily on the handle of the handy-vac to 'help out'. It seems the time out is making Emily more responsive.

Anna Times Three -- Day 974

There are currently three variations of Anna in the house. One is a vintage Fisher Price figure with a green shirt, light brown hair, and freckles; and the other is a Playmobil figure with a red flowered top, blue pants, and light red hair.

At first, Playmobil Anna wasn't accepted into the more elaborate Fisher Price village world. You can see from the photo she is bigger and frankly doesn't fit in most of the village accessories. But over time, Playmobil Anna was allowed into the village. Now both of them are regulars in Anna's village play time, and she is fully accepted as a member of the village.

I guess Anna is learning about differences in people with her Fisher Price village. There is even an African-American figure, and one day Anna was saying, "Where is the black boy?" (I was curious where this was going.) But then when she found the figure, she looked at him a bit closer, kind of nodded her head and then said, "Brown boy. He's brown. The brown boy is going to ride the merry-go-round." Color is still just color in Anna's world.

But there are also other differences. Some figures have wood heads and some have plastic heads, and yet others have wood and plastic bodies. It is not unusual to hear Anna say, "Where is the wood-headed boy?" or even, "Where is the wood-head Daddy?" How flattering that my figure has a wood head. I guess this difference comes in handy when Anna calls out for Daddy. Once in a while it can be confusing as she will sometimes want the Fisher Price Daddy and sometimes actually want me. Thank goodness one of us has a wood head to make it easier.

New Link

Just a note. If you look to the right sidebar there is a link called "Cool Baby Name Site." Even if you aren't having a baby and just want to type your own name in, it is still fun to tinker with. You'll soon know whether your parents were ahead or behind the curve in giving you that oh-so-special name of yours.

Tooth Floss and Helicopters -- Day 973

Here's the situation. Daddy is sleeping -- or better yet -- trying to sleep. Kerry is in the bathroom. And lastly, Anna is downstairs doing something. We think she is playing.

Then Anna starts yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," ...ok, just add about 50 more 'mommies' in there and you'll get the idea. Daddy is ignoring Anna because he is tired and well...Anna is technically calling for Mommy. That may sound unresponsive on my part, but I also know that my arrival will in no way satisfy her desire for 'Mommy'. So Anna continues, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." while Kerry yells from the bathroom assuring her that she will soon be downstairs.

Then there is quiet. No more 'mommies' are spoken. But the next phrase is one of those toddler non sequiturs that can usually loosen Daddy from his slumber and send him downstairs to see what is up. Anna yells out, "That's a lot of tooth floss." Anna had decided that all 20 yards of tooth floss would be better served outside its original container.

Actually, it was a lot of tooth floss; I had never seen it quite laid out like that. So I told Anna to grab one end and I grabbed the other. Then I wound the floss around the rotor of a Fisher Price helicopter and we proceeded to dangle it in between us, making it fly and crash and take off. A pretty good use for tooth floss if you happen to have 20 yards of it lying around.

Elton Baby John -- Day 970

Toddlers have poor taste in clothing, or at least they don't know how to match very well. There is no reason as to what they want and don't want. One day the apple shirt is in, the next it is unacceptable. Every day, however, pink is acceptable. Jeans are not cool -- but somehow diapers are?? Hats yes, but not with sunglasses.

But sooner or later you learn that the most useful piece of clothing is the one that is absolutely hated by the toddler unit. You can then, just like a Turkish carpet seller, strategically place this item as one of two options knowing full well that the other (i.e., desired and matching) shirt or pair of pants will surely be chosen.

Everything in a toddler home is either (A) negotiated or (B) a trick, and the tricks are usually easier.

Our Cherry Blossom -- Day 970

Well, the cherry blossom festival was on during the last few weeks here in DC, but I must admit that I wasn't all that impressed with it. Yes, there were lots of blossoms but when you walk around Capitol Hill every day and most yards have a cherry tree in it, it just seems a bit redundant -- but with thousands of tourists to make it a lot less enjoyable.

Anyhow, we took Anna to see the blossoms and she enjoyed not the pretty trees but feeding the ducks. I should have guessed that.

The low point was when Daddy got cold because the ducks were in a shady part along the river with a breeze, and Daddy stupidly didn't bring a coat. Extraction of the toddler was a bit more difficult though. The rest of the story can be summed up as: crying toddler among hordes of tourists.

On the way back we stopped at the kite festival that was on the mall. Anna liked that, but extraction of the little one once again involved crying among many tourists. Sometimes I wonder why we do this.

Regardless, the highlight of the kite festival was when Anna wanted to catch a kite and for some reason at that moment one dove out of the sky and landed right on her. She got her wish. Oh yeah, did I mention that she then cried the whole way home. Maybe I did.

Baby Duck -- Day 965

While in North Dakota the last time, Grandma Rae (Gammy) bought Anna a couple of rubber ducks, one yellow and one pink. At first Gammy thought she could buy just one duck, but of course Anna wanted both a yellow and a pink duck. And as events usually go, the grandparent gave in and bought the second one with almost no hesitation. You see, the logic was rock solid: there were two different colored ducks, so Anna just had to have both colors. Who could argue with that?

Anyhow, these ducks eventually were named Mr. and Mrs. Mallard based upon a book that Anna has. In the story, two ducks look for a place to live in Boston so they can have their baby duck family. So yesterday while I was out doing some shopping, I ran across and bought a small (yellow) version of the same duck. I then told Anna that during her nap Mr. and Mrs. Mallard had a baby. So what did Anna say? "Where's the pink baby duck?" I had made the same mistake that Gammy had made and only purchased one variety of baby duck. You think I would have predicted that one, and they even had a pink version available.

Now I'll have to make a trip back to the store to pick up a pink baby duck. Anna, however, has decided that only the yellow duck has had a baby and the pink duck is still waiting for its pink baby. She also requested that I buy not one but three more baby ducks. I guess that would make a nice even four: two yellow and two pink. We'll see.

Spring -- Day 960

I know spring is here and the snow is gone -- at least in DC, but I never sent on a photo of Anna in her snow gear. We had a few snowfalls in Washington that were good enough for snow play, and Anna loved it. She made dozens of snow angels, collected icicles, helped shovel snow with a dusting pan, and threw a lot of snowballs at Daddy and Nya-Nya. She was also delighted to find out that a good coat of snow makes going down a slide much faster. My only concern was teaching her not to put her tongue on anything metal.