This was a cute moment, where, when playing with Jay's old cell phone and after me clipping it on her dress, she immediately asked for a tie and glasses (so she could complete the "Papa" look). I couldn't help but oblige. Of course, the shoes are only something he wears at home on special occasions. You'll also note her mastery of the letter "w" (she actually now knows all her letters) and the hiccups.
Another cute moment, not captured here, as I explain the world to her: Whenever she sees something she wants to do, like operate heavy machinery or cut her own nails, I explain that's something she can do when she's older. So last night, on the way home from picking up Jay at work, Annie sees a fire truck and says to us both, "That's not for Annie. Annie does it when you ooolllder." (Annie still refers to herself as either "Annie," or "You.") Glad to see the kid has dreams.
And on a final note of importance, the naps, for now, seem to have returned! Day 3 and counting... fingers crossed.
Despite all the cute and wonderful things Annie is doing these days: singing, doing more and more "pretend play" (you should see her put "sugar" into her teacup, it kills me), doing more and more "pretend play" with the cats (much to their shagrin), there is one giant elephant in the room casting a large shadow over all of it. She has ceased to nap, almost entirely (last week, there was only one, brief rest for Annie and Mom both). We knew this day would come, just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. I'm hanging on to the hope, though, that it's a phase that she'll pass out of soon (fingers firmly crossed), mostly because it's started to effect her night sleep. One time this week she was up from midnight until 3, another night she wouldn't fall asleep until 9 (which, with no nap under her belt, was super, super late for her). Needless to say, I am feeling like I don't know what the heck I'm doing as a parent, but try to remind myself that at least I'm giving her the opportunity to sleep, and that's about all I can do at this point. But, of course, if this continues, I will have no qualms about sending her to preschool one extra day a week so we can both keep our sanity. Otherwise, that may be me you will be hearing about on the evening news running down the street in her bathrobe.
Annie, her pop and I headed to Austin this long weekend so we could finally say we've been to more than one city in Texas--oh, and to bond as a family and all that jazz. We had a great time. Annie enjoyed it so much she didn't take ANY naps... Nope. Not one. Needless to say we were *thrilled*. But we tried to keep her busy despite her delirium. She did pretty well, only having one day which was a tribute to her best "terrible twos" impression we've seen yet. We walked to the state capital building (the tallest in the country, proving that everything is, in fact, bigger in Texas), went on a train, climbed a mountain (OK, it was more like a lot of stairs, but Annie was very proud), and visited the world headquarters of Whole Foods, which was basically Whole Foods on steroids (but I'm sure they're organic, environmentally friendly steroids). We also visited their Children's Museum where Annie got to pretend to drive a subway. I think she was pretty sure she had died and gone to heaven (and given her sleepless state, I'm not overstating that; the kid was drunk with tired). Now, we're back. Still no naps. I think Annie's just excited for all the change that's on the horizon with our new president that she decided to enact some of her own. I like the intention, just not the vehicle with which she chose to accomplish it.
Annie has a love for the animals. Last week, when I took her to our friend "Becca-Sara-Kate's" (my friend Rebecca, and her similarly aged daughter and best friend to Annie, Sara Kate, but known to Annie as one entity, thus the hyphens) house for a visit, we went to feed some local horses some carrots. When first she had a visual on the horses, Annie planted her feet in the grass and her hands on her knees and yelled in a way I have never heard the girl raise her voice: "Hiiiii! HORSEEEESSSSS!" It was like Santa Clause himself was standing before her (and was hard of hearing). So, later that week, when we went to the Children's Museum, I shouldn't have been surprised by the way in which she greeted the newly hatched chicks that they always have on display. See for yourself, and notice how at one point, one of the chicks stares and squints at the camera as if to say, "Will you please tell her to keep her voice down? I'm standing right here.":
Just so I don't forget... Annie's been saying some cute things lately, that others may find amusing:
Whenever someone says "I love you" to Annie, she always responds, "Sweet dreams," no matter what time of day or venue. (I think it's a carryover from when I put her to bed; my last words are often, "I love you, sweet dreams," before I shut the door.) Two is always the number of choice. If you ask Annie if she wants anything of desire, she will most definitely respond, "Want two?", only to be followed by "Want a-lot-a-dem" (aka, "a lot of them"). She's also gotten so used to me clarifying what she does and does not want (read: "You DO want more?"), that she now has replaced the pronoun, "I," with "Do," so that any expression of desire begins with it, as in "Do want some fruit snacks," or "Do want some puzzles with Mama?"
And in a nod to my continued, but woefully ignored efforts in potty-training, she calls the toilet "the bathroom," such as "Wanna sit on the bathroom?" (which she only wants to do with the lid down so she has somewhere to rest whilst brushing her teeth).
We're back from our travels. I thought I'd have the organization to post while we were in Connecticut but a horrible cold (see a couple posts ago) given to me from my dear daughter and husband, followed by a 24-hour stomach bug (thank goodness for grandparents) prevented me from doing so. We had a wonderful time in Connecticut. Annie really seemed to "get it" this year and had so much fun with her cousins and grandparents. We also got to catch up with some high-school friends of ours, although we sadly missed a Syracuse reunion (due to aforementioned illnesses). Annie asked Santa for a "shiny present," and when asked what she wanted inside the shiny present, she replied "Jewels." So Santa came through in spades, and that along with too many other gifts to count, Annie had a pretty lucrative Christmas. Visit Annie's Shutterfly site to see the fun for yourself. She also had a great time with her favorite person ever, GrandBob. The most popular refrain of our visit was "GrandBob do it." This is documented by the sadly few photos of Annie with anyone but GrandBob. We're trying not to take it personally.
Now that we're back, we're working on getting Annie back into some semblance of a sleep schedule. Not going so well, but I have faith. Send us some good vibes, or Nyquil, whatever you got.
All Hallows Eve 2014
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We are back with some Halloween highlights.
If you can't tell, Harper is using her ice powers here.
If you can't tell, Harper is singing "Let it Go" h...
