Sugar (High) Baby -- Day 840

This series of photos will basically document how cake + not enough parental attention + more cake = sugar high baby. They were taken during Charles and Judy's 40th wedding anniversary party.

In the first picture you can see Anna has spotted the cake, but hasn't made her move yet. She has probably never seen such a big cake before, so she is planning her toddler attack. The top looks the best but it is high and harder to get, but the bottom is very close and accessible. Easy choice considering the length of her arms.

In the second photo you can see that people are not paying enough attention to her. Anna is moving closer; the Texas Grandparents are getting ready to eat their cake; and the scene is perfect for a 'taste'. After that someone will have to giver her a piece to pacify her. It was sometime shortly before this or after this that she plunged her hand into the frosting of the lower level.

So we ended up giving her a very large piece (exactly why is still a bit unclear), which she nicely held without spilling for a long time. In this next picture she is getting ready to eat, and it is the beginning of the sugar fueling process. Keep in mind she was already bouncing off the walls.

Well, Anna was doing such a good job holding (and eating) the cake we left her alone. You know, give her some space, let her mature a little. I'm sure she won't eat the whole thing. She just wandered around taking tiny bites and holding it perfectly. You can tell she didn't want to spill it. In the fourth picture you can see that we are not paying enough attention to her. She is just dutifully eating her cake. Don't mind me she is saying.

I must admit that there was a period in there where I took her out to watch some live music in another portion of the restaurant, and a lot of people were actually paying attention to her, but at some point it doesn't matter. Who is going to be the person to take cake away from a baby? Especially, when she is holding it so neatly. If she spills it, that is the first chance to whisk it away under the pretense of being dirty, but we had no such luck. She played by the rules.

So, the whole episode was probably about 45 minutes long and involved her slowly eating her cake, but I think this last picture says it all. The little digestive system has processed the cake and sent it to the brain. Now we have a different baby to manage, and she still has some cake left.

Toddler Beach -- Day 838

It is actually a bit difficult to even know where to start this post as so much happened during our trip to Houston for Thanksgiving. The bad thing when this happens is that in all likelihood I will just forget to tell some good Anna stories. That's how it goes I guess. Sorry Grandparents.

The most eventful time was when Anna went to the beach for the first time. Anna absolutely loved it. It was an endless sand box with water and shells. I actually have some video that I will post this week some time.

Now you would think that I would have a lot of stories from this episode, but strangely I do not. I guess she was just so enamored with the water and beach that she was literally bouncing from one thing to another and running around. She was very, very busy. It was like she didn't know what to do because there was so much fun to be had, and this was really fun to watch. It is just hard to describe.

There was a lot of scooping sand, adorning sand heaps with shells, letting the water wash up on her feet and obviously getting sand in her diaper. (I will refrain from posting the picture of her plumber butt and a big pile of sand next to it.) I think the high point was just seeing her try to understand the feeling of wet sand in between her toes. There was that first minute or two where it looked like she was learning to walk again. But instead of balance as the main issue, it was sensory 'strangeness' that was new. Do you curl your toes and dig them in? Do you run or tip toe? Do you kick or jump? There were no rules and she was trying to figure it [wet sand] out.

The reason we were at the beach was we spent Thanksgiving outside of Galveston at Kerry's Aunt and Uncle's beach house (Elizabeth and Mike). They had a great place where Anna had plenty of opportunities to watch barges go by, and we were just a short ride away from the beach. They also had porches, dogs, toys, and an enormous sectional couch fit for rolling around.

Anna also had the opportunity to entertain guests during Charles and Judy's 40th wedding anniversary party. Anna started off jumping, then proceeded to running and jumping, took a break with some legos, then returned to jumping and running again. After everything was done and we were putting her to bed Anna summarized it best. She said, "Anna ran back and forth and jumped a lot." Yep, that about says it, and I will add that she burned a HUGE amount of energy. I personally don't know how she was still standing at the end of it all. It was literally 4+ hours of jumping and running. I know that I couldn't do that.

The airplane trip there and back made quite an impression on Anna, and suffice it to say, her identity has changed once again (for those keeping track), but this time to a pilot. Unfortunately, Anna had a cold so during the landings her ears were hurting quite a bit. During that time, she would make her Nya-Nya kiss each one of her ears repeatedly. It was so sad just seeing her hold her head crying and saying that her ears hurt. But then when we landed, she just switches off and says, "Anna's ears don't hurt anymore." Smiles from all.

When we boarded our flight back to DC, the stewardesses found out that Anna was a 'pilot' (remember this is her new identity), so they let her into the cockpit and she got to sit on one of the pilot chairs. (Please note that I have never done this.) She then tried to buckle herself in but the pilot seat belts are...well, let's say a bit more complex than the passenger ones, so she informed the pilots that her belt was broken. One of the pilots politely told her that they would have to call to get it fixed. Upon leaving the plane, they also gave her some pilot wings. Again, this has never happened to me.

Let's see, what are some other stories...oh yeah, before we left for Texas when I took her to the Natural History Museum, one of the elevator attendants who hands out stickers to kids gave Anna one. This in itself isn't a big deal, but after eating, we had to once again use the elevator to go up, so I told Anna to tell the elevator attendant thank you and tell him that you like him very much. Well, it was a different attendant who actually had no interest in handing out stickers to kids, but that didn't stop Anna. She did happen to notice that it wasn't the same man, which threw her off a bit in the beginning, so she kind of messed up her lines. Instead of 'thank you' she just skipped to a very sincere, "I love you." Well, after that, he told her that he also loved her then scrambled into action and rounded up two stickers for her.

Anna has also started to absorb holiday characters with amazing speed. After hearing the story of the pilgrims one time at her day school, she was pilgrim this and pilgrim that all week long. She told us about the rock, the Indians, and the Mayflower. Now she understands Santa Clause and Rudolph the red-nose reindeer. I guess this reflects a broader language ability that she has picked up in the last couple of months. She has always been good verbally, but she has really turned a corner and started prancing with it in the last couple of months.

I can't really cite any examples, but just to give some idea: the other morning when I went to get her out of bed I asked her if she had been up for a while. She said, "Yes," so I asked her what she was doing. Anna then gives a grammatically perfect complex sentence for an answer: "I was hugging the Nya-Nyas, and then when I was done I started kissing them."

Even the weekend before last when Kerry and I walked near to Anna's school (Anna was in her stroller), she informed her Mommy that "Anna's school is over there back behind that." The 'that' was a hospital that was standing between us and Anna' school. Anyhow, it surprised me that she had full capacity to use three sets of prepositions in one construction in a way to say exactly where the school was. She could have stopped at "over there" or "behind that," but instead she just rattled off a precision description.

Ok, so maybe I am goint into too much detail. If you haven't had a kid, this may mean nothing, and for those that do have kids, this may be fairly routine. Anyhow, the point is that Anna is really absorbing language now. The other day I taught her that in stead of saying 'no' she should say, "I'd rather not." It took 10 seconds, and now her way of saying 'no' has a very English ring to it. She's a sponge.

Well, I think I will end this now. I will probably remember some other things to talk about during the week, so I apologize for any posts that may jump around too much in a sort of schizophrenic ramble. I just know that if I try to compose the posts too much, in the end I will end up posting less.

School Girl -- Day 826

Anna is at school as I write this. She goes every Tuesday and Thursday. For those interested in what goes on at school: the days at school usually start off with play, then they do some stories. After that they may work on art or have some more play time. They eat a snack about half way through, then go out for a short recess. This usually means that Anna's pants get filled up with sand somehow. Once recess is done, they go inside and play a bit more then have lunch before going home.

Towards the end of the day when Anna is getting tired, she often asks for her Nya-Nya. I usually leave him in the hallway until needed. The cute thing is that Anna knows this and tells me all the time, "Nya-Nya waits in the hallway." And sometimes when I mention that her Mommy is at Russian school, Anna makes sure to point out that Mommy also takes a Nya-Nya to school and leaves it in the hallway. I'm sure she does.

The other kids in class apparently know that Anna sometimes needs her Nya-Nya lovey when she gets frustrated and will tell the teacher or parent on duty very seriously, "She needs her Nya-Nya." It's nice to have little friends watching out for you.

The other day, I went to pick up Anna and one of the mothers who is Hispanic says to me, "You know what Anna said today at school?" (I'm bracing myself.) The mother continues, "She said 'Yo quiero frijoles'." For those who don't know Spanish, this means, "I want beans." The parent was quite amazed Anna knew some Spanish. Yes it is pretty good, but I know that Anna loves her books, and this is really only Skippyjon Jones Spanish.

She was also at the Natural History Museum this last weekend, and Anna kept running around yelling out, "Ay carumba." Some more Skippyjon Spanish. Most people probably thought we were letting our 2-year-old watch The Simpsons.

The whole dinosaur thing has been helping us with Anna's eating habits. Broccoli is now popular because they are now trees, and dinosaurs eat trees. The other day, I was eating some caviar on crackers (not the expensive kind from endangered sturgeon), and Anna was really curious. I told her that it was fish eggs, and she tried it. Then she wanted it on crackers too, so I got her some small Elmo crackers. So Anna and Daddy just sat there eating black caviar on crackers for lunch, right after eating a round of dinosaur trees. That's good eatin'.

Speaking of dinosaurs, Kerry and I were at the bookstore the other day to see if any books really interested her. We weren't going to buy any, but then right before leaving I noticed a book that was called "Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs." This book was apparently tailor made for Anna, and she loves it oh so much. She has even picked up some more pirate talk and roars like a Tyrannosaurus Rex throughout the day now. All useful skills.

I wish more books would combine kids topics like this. Dinosaur Astronauts would also be good book too, so someone needs to start writing it.

Dinosaur Anna -- Day 823

I think I left off the last post at Halloween, so if you didn't already know, Anna went as Elmo this year. Last year she refused to wear her costume. Everyone thought she was really cute, and we switched off with the North Dakota Grandparents in taking her out to gather sugar. This year we bought cheap Chinese toys instead of candy to give out. The scary vampire teeth, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, rubber snakes and other little trinkets went over well. The only problem was that it all came packaged, so there was a steady stream of Chinese-cheap-crap garbage leading away from our house. It didn't bother us too much though as Anna absolutely loved to go out and pick up garbage. It was sort of like a treasure hunt -- except no treasure.

Anna also got a load of candy, and we had to hide it so she wouldn't want to eat it all. Unfortunately, Kerry hid it on top of our dryer, and we subsequently did a few loads of laundry the next day. Well -- let's just say that these two parents did the unthinkable and melted our little girl's first Halloween candy haul down into a nice messy bag of glob. But frankly, I must admit that there was a bit of me that just sighed in relief that we didn't have to manage candy intake for the next week or so.

Anna continues her day school. We try to get out of her what exactly she does during those days, but she has been conditioned into saying very mechanically phrases such as, "I shared and listened to my teacher." Never mind that the question we asked was about what songs she sang in class. She is well trained, and any question about school is answered with noncommittal boilerplate.

Granted, I do know what goes on the days when I work, but I worked my last day for this term and now have two months off. The last time I worked, during reading time the teacher was going over some story. I can't even remember what it was or what was said, but one of the kids blurted out, "My mommy dresses up to go exercise." The teacher, Miss Laura, just looks and says, "Ooookay, that's nice," and continues reading. Then another toddler says, "My Mommy puts make-up on in the morning." Now sure enough, this is cute, but when YOU are a potential a target of discussion, the round of toddler tell-all was not all that comforting. In one second I realized the so many things Anna could say, but I really hoped she wouldn't. But the contagion was released in the wild amongst innocent toddlers, and they started telling what their Mommies did during the day with absolutely no filter and bent to the reality of a toddler's life. Fortunately, it stopped rather quickly, but suffice it to say, I am a bit more careful with Anna. No more pull-my-finger jokes.

Anna has also been resisting naps lately. I think she is transitioning away from -- well sleep in general, but I really can't say what has caused it or what her motivation is. She is a toddler I guess. My suspicions are on the trove of toys and gifts from recent visitors that has put a premium on being awake and playing, but I am probably wrong. Anyhow, Anna will now call out at the top of her voice (when she should be sleeping), "Want to get out. Want to get out. I got a gooooooood nap. Want to get out." You see it is the sell. If she could just convince me that she actually slept, I would take her out of bed -- right?

Of course, I never fall for this, but I will fall for some things. After the get-out-of-bed-rant, she often makes up excuses that have no anchor in reality. For instance, she will call out that her Nya-Nya (her lovey) needs a diaper changed. Yes, her Nya-Nyas wear diapers too.

Anyhow, it is all a game. Of course, I know the stuffed animal doesn't need a new diaper, but if I can call her on a bluff here and there and keep my actions random enough, maybe I can just hack the system enough to get her to sleep.

But then again there was an episode like today. She was awake the whole time trying to convince me to get her out. I held out and kept up the defense, but finally I went in -- and lucky for me I did. She had yanked down a duffel bag of Play-doh and with a bunch of play tools. She was just having fun with Play-doh -- not sleeping. Thank goodness she couldn't get the canisters opened.

Anyhow, I will end this post now. The pictures are from the debris of Anna's bath time. The play things strewn about are a mix of pails, dinosaurs, pirates, boats, keys, rubber snakes and other knick-knacks that were all heading towards the drain as the water receded. It looks like a battle royale between pirates and dinosaurs.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The reason for the post title "Dinosaur Anna" is because she is now really into dinosaurs. We have taken her to the Natural History Museum a couple of times in the last week, and she is so excited about dinosaurs now. Anna has also changed her identity, and now she is is an astronaut.