A Site about Kerry, Karring, and Anna

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Dori Sprinkle -- Day 716

Anna really likes Dora the Explorer, though she has always pronounced her as Dori instead. I bought from Target a couple months back the Dora sprinkler and it whirls around and shoots water in the air. Anna love it, but admittedly she gets just as much pleasure from me hosing her down directly. Water is water.

The whole water theme as been prominent since our trip to Texas in early July. Now she is not just a train but a boat too. When I asked her what she was, one time she said, "Part boat and part train." I also sense that she could become part airplane one of these days too. Maybe after our long-haul trip to Ukraine in August, she will make that transformation too.

You can see from the photo above that Anna has a new swimming suit. I picked it up on sale, and Anna really likes it. She would often wear it as her everyday clothes if she could. It is a little big as it was meant for next year, but the diaper fills it out enough for a good game of Dori Sprinkle.

Anna has been having some trouble getting to sleep lately. Basically, she feels that despite being tired it is much better to stay up and play. We are now on a strict bedroom confinement plan where we basically ignore her demands during nap times. The other day, she was calling out for me to give her the wooden play knife from one of her Melissa and Doug sets. It is a tray of food with meat, bread, corn, asparagus, milk, utensils etc. all laid out on a place setting. She must have gone on for an hour saying, "Want the knife. Want to get out. Dadda, geeeeeet meeeeeee thuuuuuu knife." Then came the silence; it only lasted for about five minutes, but when she resumed she had added to her demands: "Dadda, want knife (short pause) ...and corn." That went on for another 30 minutes. Basically, I was a short order cook.

We finally bought Anna a growth chart so we can begin charting her life in inches. We found a really nice wooden one that mounts to the wall and we can take it along with us when we move. This is better than marking up a door or wall. My Great Aunt, Eva, once had so many markings of family members' height on one of her doors that when she moved she had to take the door with her. Later on, whenever we would go to one of her residences, she would have this curious, isolated door mounted on brackets occupying open floor space. One time I helped her move and had to move the famous door, and it just felt sort of silly packing up a heavy door.

Texas Grandma, Judy (a.k.a. Mimi), came in for a few days while I was taking a three-day course and Kerry was working. Anna always loves visitors, and future visitors should be warned that she expects bags coming from the airport to contain presents and maybe even a dress or two. Of course, Mimi didn't disappoint and played numerous water games during the hot days, keeping her happy and well entertained.

It is hard to keep track of Anna's developments nowadays. No longer can we say that she learned her ABCs or her colors or can now walk up and down stairs. Now her development is much more subtle. Learning the word constructions such as using "anymore" and "or." She is fully able to tell us that she no longer likes something. It usually comes in the form of, "Train doesn't like this book anymore," or "Train wants peaches or strawberries." I guess from now on we will have to live with the fact that Anna will have preferences -- and tell us about them.

I guess the main problem is that as her ability to prefer things has increased, her openness to reason on the part of her parents has decreased. This inverse relationship is probably most appropriately characterized as the 'terrible twos', but for all its traps and surprises, it is still a great time to spend with Anna.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Rowing with Anna - Day 696

Anna just came back from her trip from Texas. We visited the lake where Kerry and I were married and she had a great time. Kerry and I have started to bill it as 'summer vacation'. She rode boats, kayaks, and cars. She sat on knee boards, rocked on swinging teeter totters, and got used to dogs. All in all, she had a wonderful time and will be talking about it for some time.

The nice thing was is that she also was able to meet some of her cousins. One specifically, Kate, was really nice to her and took care of her like a true big sister. Anna also played with vintage Fisher Price toys, like the airport set, and every time I came in the lake house the two airplanes were nose to nose kissing each other. When we ask her about the airplanes she says, "The airplanes were kissing." I guess they were.

At one point Anna took command of the boat when Charlie let her steer for a bit and succeeded in turning the boat in circles for many revolutions. Daddy wasn't there as he was out fishing, but apparently there were only two explanations for the 'circular' behavior of the boat: drunkenness or a baby driving. Both are probably illegal.

The flight to Texas was quite difficult. Anna didn't get a good nap, so she was really tired and at one point just wanted off the airplane. On the way back, however, she was really good and just played the whole time -- but the naps were timed much better on the way back. This was a nice dry run for when we go to Ukraine in about a month.

Anna said a lot of great baby sayings during the trip. My favorite was after some fireworks had gone off she said, "Fireworks hurt the sky." Also, the words 'boat' and 'kayak boat' are permanently in her vocabulary, and she constantly talks about when Mommy was on the tube being pulled by the boat. Apparently, Daddy was laughing at her (of course that couldn't be true).

Well, there really is almost too much to tell. It is safe to say, however, that Anna has had her first taste of summer vacation, and she loves it.

The pictures are of Anna in her swimming pool, one of her and Kate, another of her on a knee board, one with Aunt Susan, and one with the whole Monaghan family. I have included more photos for your enjoyment.

I have also put some silent videos on the Vimeo website. You can see them using the links below.

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:87099

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:87097

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:87095

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:87091


http://www.vimeo.com/clip:87092