"Ooooh, I wanna dance with somebody!"

... Not her exact words, but close. Now, after meals mostly, Annie gets the jitterbug and asks "Wanna dance?" to whomever is in close proximity. We caught a duet on tape for all to enjoy. (She's starting to get that arms can be a means for expression and you'll notice her technique makes really good use of the space; Martha Graham would be so proud.) At first, you'll see us "warm up" to a Music Together call and answer and Roscoe's anticipation of the performance. Then, the conga begins and we really get into it. Annie has her first dance injury, but manages to shake it off for the big finish. Roscoe, however, doesn't seem too impressed. Somehow, I think he's going to be our toughest critic when we take this on the road. You tell me.

Life with Annie has not been all that easy lately with an almost two-week long napping strike. Finally today, I sat in her room tamping down any shenanigans so that she pretty much had no choice but to go to sleep. Seems to have worked for now. Why else do you think I have time to update the blog? With that said, she's still a hoot to be around. Somewhere she came up with a nonsense joke that cracks her up but leaves most others baffled. If she's excited about something or just feels like making a comment and has nothing better to say, she'll take whatever she's looking at or doing and say "That's not a [insert whatever item she's thinking of], that's a bagel!" Such as, "That's not a book, that's a bagel!" And it's *always* a bagel. What's more strange, we haven't had bagels in FOREVER. Don't ask, I have no idea.

And finally we want to give a big shout-out "HOORAY!" to our good friends the Mothers Goose as they just welcomed their newest gosling, Carmen, on Monday. (And yes, I only know what a baby goose is called because I have a two-year-old who loves farm-themed literature.)

The look of love

Annie celebrated Valentine's Day with the people and things she loves best. Since it was on a Saturday she got Papa the whole day. After being showered with chocolate (we're pretty sure this is her favorite holiday): chocolate "trucks" from Papa, chocolate chips in her pancakes, chocolate milk (ask her father), we went on the beloved Hermann Park train. She brought her best friend Monkey to see the sights (though as you can see in the picture above, he much preferred to keep his loving gaze on her), and with all the excitement a much-needed nap was out of the question. Mama escaped regardless to do some errands, and returned to find that her non-rested child had been at the park for 2 hours. A great trip for them, but when Annie returned, the word "zombie" doesn't quite do her condition justice. She was asleep by 6:15, but maybe it was the delicious cupcake from Crave that Mama got her, or the aforementioned chocolate hail storm, but for some reason she woke up at 9 and was up for about 3 hours. Very unlike her, and not so romantic, I have to admit. I mean, I love that she wanted my company, I just would have preferred it be when I was in the mood to be conscious.

Backtracking a little, she also got to go to an UrbanMoms (our mothers' group) Valentine's Day party the day before, also filled with sweets and cupcakes, and she got her first set of Valentine's Day cards from her friends. Here you can see the ones she made (OK, I did them, but she art directed) for her friends. She was so excited to get cards. When she got home, she went through her goodie bag (where the cards were) and kept saying, "Oh my goooodneeeess." Needless to say, this holiday may even beat birthdays. What's not to love about a day devoted to all things loved bathed in chocolate?

It's a zoo in there

Annie's become quite a fan of zoos lately. In fact, it was a method she and I used to evaluate different areas in which Jay was interviewing for a job for this coming year (Louisville won partly because we couldn't see the whole thing in one visit, but mostly because it had a train). The Houston Zoo is actually quite fabulous. So given that the weather here is in the 70s, we thought today would be the perfect day to introduce Papa to the whole affair. Annie always wants to head straight for the monkeys. She even brings her monkey along so he doesn't forget where he came from (and where he could go back to if he doesn't behave). She also loves, with apprehension, the Children's Zoo, which has a petting area where you can brush goats. Before putting her to bed tonight, whilst singing her lullabies, Annie interrupts and said to me, "I brushed one goat, Mama, not two." Clearly, zoology has made an impression. That, and an undying commitment to accuracy in journalism.