Easter Eggin' - Day 616

We took Anna to our little park to have her Easter egg hunt, which she thoroughly loved. For a short couple of days, she referred to it as the Easter egg park, but now it has strangely become the tupperware park. Maybe this is because all the park equipment is plastic.

Anna has recently become very demanding, and the usual request is to "go outside walking." Tonight, when we asked her what jammies she would like to wear, she said: "outside jammies." We are constantly given the hard sell nowadays. Every request is aimed at the larger goal of getting outside.

Another new thing she is into is ramps -- yes, those gentle inclines supplied for people in wheel chairs. She loves a bank on Pennsylvania Avenue that has one, but today after a pooh emergency, I had to make a quick exit and head home. Of course, Anna wanted more ramps, so in a moment of weakness I promised to take her to the ramps at the Museum of Natural History (during spring breaks and the height of high-school field-trip season). The museum was packed with 16- to 18-year-old teens, precisely the age cohort that cares least about kids. Anyhow, with some extra watching, she got through it fine.

Anna has also be pulled off the waiting list for music class and will start her lessons next Thursday. We will see how that goes. The last swimming class didn't go so well. She melted down before it and into the first five minutes of the lesson until we started kicking and she remembered that it was fun. Now when we ask Anna when she cried recently, she says: "Anna cried at the swimming lesson and the doctor checkup." Once in a while she will even add: "Sometimes babies cry." That's right, sometimes they do.

One more picture here. It is again one of Anna in the Easter Egg/Tupperware park.

The last thing to tell from the week is that she has been really interested in the flowers that Daddy has planted, and now that she knows her colors, they are extra fun. Since I am usually with her when I water them, she is often standing on the sidewalk observing the watering routine. Well, Anna doesn't just like to be a bystander, she is extending her fingers as far as they can reach -- tyring not to step in the mud -- to point at specific flowers that she feels I need to water more thoroughly. The routine usually goes: "Dadda, Dadda, need to water orange flower. Dadda, Dadda, need to water yellow flower." Later on it just turns to commentary, "Dadda is watering mud." I guess I sort of am.

Easter Girl - Day 613

Well, this picture was taken the day or two before Easter. Anna likes her flower dresses, and she especially likes the ones that people compliment. Today we tried to put on some 'regular' clothes and Anna wanted a flower dress. When we ask her what she looks like, she says: "Anna looks like a little flower."

Anna had a great time with her private Easter egg hunt. We had dyed some eggs the day before, and let her 'find' them in the park across the street. She hasn't stopped talking about the Easter bunny that hid eggs in the park. I have also continued to hide the plastic eggs around the house filled with Cheerios; she gets really excited and loves the periodic egg hunts.

The Texas Grandparents went home today after about a week stay. They lavished attention on Anna and took good care of her while in DC. One of the benefits of having people over is that we get to sleep in Anna's room and listen in on her morning ramblings. She loves to talk for about 30 minutes before calling us to get her out of bed. Often she is just practicing words, reciting nursery rhymes, or talking about a story in one of her books, but once in a while we get some strange things. A few nights ago she was rustling about and she talked in her sleep and clearly said, "want to play banjo." She had learned earlier in the week about this instrument and decided that this would be her preferred choice. Of course, there are other things that she babbles about too. This morning she said, "How come mommy goes poo-poo?" I think Kerry will have to answer that one.

She has also entered a scared phase where she is wary of many things. She is sort of scared of dogs, airplanes, helicopters, sirens, busy roads, and people in suits. The strange thing is that she actually loves almost all of these things (except men in suits). The hard thing is that when she is walking around she has to be picked up whenever one of these numerous urban realities comes her way. She doesn't get much walking in when you I have to hold her for every car, airplane, and helicopter.

Well, that is it for now. I will post some Easter photos in the next entry. By the way, Anna is 35 inches tall and 27 pounds as of her last doctor's appointment.

Silent Videos - Day 606

Here is a photo again from the North Dakota trip. Anna is holding my finger and Great Grandma's walker. Anna is really into holding fingers now. She even gets sick of certain fingers and requests a 'new' finger, meaning that either we have to literally offer her a thumb, pinky or other finger or Kerry and I have to switch sides to offer her a totally different hand. Needless to say, this complicates walking a bit. It is hard enough to keep track of a little girl at times let alone managing a finger rotation to keep her happy.

Anyhow, I have uploaded a bunch of silent videos taken on my digital camera. Some are from a while back. There is one where she isn't even walking yet, which is quite unbelievable to me at this stage of Anna's life. There is also a recent one of her chasing some ducks near the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln memorial. Some are better than others, but in all of them she looks like our adorable Anna.

You can access the videos from the below link. Just click on the link, then click on the play button for the file you want to play, then click on "play video. " The videos ending in ".mov" are the newest ones, and I have given them each some sort of descriptive label. I like "chasing ducks" the best. You can just imagine how the other five minutes of Anna's unrecorded chasing went. Oh yeah, you will also need QuickTime to play the videos.

http://www.streamload.com/karringmoan

Anna Piano - Day 605

There aren't too many pictures of Daddy, so I thought I would include this one. I was joking today with Grandpa Charlie that there will be no photo record of her Dad. In this photo I am trying to teach her how to really bang the piano keys.

The Texas Grandparents have been in town this week, so attention overload is in full gear. Today we walked around the mall here in DC. Anna loved chasing ducks, chattering away, watching kites, and pointing out every airplane that flew by.

When we got back she had incorporated cherry blossoms into her Anna life and repeatedly had her toy train going to "see the cherry blossoms."

Tomorrow, she will go to the doctor. During previous doctors visits she has screamed up an unholy storm the entire time. Even one time when I went to get my flu shot, she started hyper-ventilating and melted down crying, so I can't imagine how this is going to go well. We will just have to see. I have been trying to read her books that include visits to the doctor just to prep her.

The weather has gotten really nice out here, so Anna is constantly going to the park. She has also recently learned how to go down the slide like a 'big girl,' which means she goes down on her butt and not her stomach. She really loves this new and exciting way of sliding. The cute thing about it is that whenever we say that she went down like a 'big girl' Anna then quotes from her potty training book and blurts out, "Now I can wear big kid pants." Well, I am not sure going down the slide equals potty trained, but she understands that she is doing something special in our book.

We have also finally gotten Anna to drink milk -- sort of. The way we do it is to put a squirt of Nestle chocolate in some milk and call it Anna coffee. She thinks she is having coffee with the rest of us. How big girl is that?

That is it for now. Ok...I will add one more picture. This is one with Great Grandma Lillian at her birthday. The piano in the first picture was on the other side of the room.

Spring Time for Anna - Day 602

Well, this photo is spring in North Dakota. The picture was taken by Grandpa Greg when we went to see Anna's Great Grandmother, Lillian. Anna is still talking about playing the piano at Great Grandma's house.

Spring has hit DC now, and Anna is always demanding to go outside. Her normal routine is to go get a muffin in the morning (banana nut), then go to a park, and finally stroll around Capitol Hill looking for "birds houses." She is fascinated by these hanging houses where birds live.

Anna also had her first swimming lesson yesterday. We enrolled her at our local swimming pool, and Anna absolutely loved it. She was wearing her pink bikini and had too much fun. She kept on saying, "Anna splashing like a dolphin," and "maaaaaaking bubbles." The class lasts for 8 weeks, and she goes for 30 minutes every Wednesday.

We have also enrolled her in a music class at a local church. That starts in late April and will go for nine weeks. We are trying to get Anna a bit more socialized with other little ones.

I have again added a second picture in this entry. I thought after posting three the last time that I probably needed to wean some relatives off them as I go back to one-photo entries. This one is of Anna with all of her 'friends' from North Dakota. The Fisher-Price people were a big hit, and it was only after we arrived back in DC that I realized Anna had smuggled a couple of them back her in her fire truck.

It is interesting to see Anna's life through her toys. She recounts her day; re-enacts many experiences; and creates innovative little relationships. For instance, the medieval knight (to the left of Big Bird) and the postman (beneath Big Bird) end up kissing quite a bit...I guess that works nowadays. Also, with her doll house the male figure is Daddy, one of the female figures is Mommy, and the third female figure is "Other Mommy." I haven't quite figured out how that one works yet.

Anna is still talking up a storm. People at the playgrounds are amazed to learn she isn't 2-2.5 years old. Anna is also learning her colors very well. She points out the cars and is really into describing everything with colors now. I must admit that I am already cringing at the inevitable baby racial commentary that will come my way.

But the other side of her talking is her being able to boss people around. The other day we were walking down the street and Anna saw a construction worker with the door of his truck open. He was loading things up at the end of the day. Well, Anna hates open doors, so she marches over to the door and commands him to, "Close the door! Close the door!" and points at it until he closes it for her. We have taught her how to say "please" now, but it only partially takes the edge off her new skill of ordering people around.

Well, that is it for now. The Texas Grandparents are flying in tomorrow, so Anna will have entertainment galore for the next week or so. She is already expecting them and talks of Mimi and Papa arriving on Friday.