Quick Hits and Bragging Rights

WARNING: First time mom bragging to follow. I can't help it. It's my blog and I love her and she just amazes me everyday. I am trying not to turn into one of those moms who thinks every little move is just adorable but it's tough when she's been so happy and helpful the past few weeks.

On sunday morning Anna chose to wake up at 6:45 instead of her usual 7-7:15am. We are certain this has something to do with the fact that mommy and daddy stayed out till 1am at the NASA 50th Anniversary Gala in Galveston. That will teach us to sneak away while she's asleep! This is why parents of toddlers don't stay out late, people (unless you are one of those strangely blessed parents whose toddler sleeps late...TJ maybe?)

This weekend, Anna looked right at me during lunch and said, "pacis a fu babies!" Daddy is telling her that paci's are for babies. She likes the phrase, but only somewhat gets where we are trying to go with this. She will also happily say "Yucky paci!" and throw it down, then proceed to ask for it again later. She still gets her paci in the car and during sleep. She will take it out of her mouth when we ask her to. That's a start. But she is still teething her 4 canines and with the holiday travel approaching, we're lightening up a bit. We figure we're going to have to use reason rather than force.

She finally liked hanging on the bars at The Little Gym.

This weekend she pee-peed on her little potty when I did :) She was so proud!! So were we. She will actually tell you when she's gone in her diaper if she thinks about it. Awareness! That's on the right path!

She is being extremely cooperative and happy still ever since we got back from Colorado. Is this another phase or can I attribute the awful attitude of the previous weeks to ear infection, cold, and teething? I don't know but she's a super cool toddler at this time. Even brushing her teeth has become fun for her.

When we go to get her from her crib after she's woken, she has lots to tell you! Usually it revolves around her paci and I'm not entirely sure what she's saying but she is loaded with inflection and exclamations!

She will list off the names of her friends at school, and then add "book!" as if it were one of her friends. SHE LOVES BOOKS. When I pick her up from school, she's always sitting on the floor looking at a book and she immediately runs up to tell me the story and show me the book. Every night before bedtime, story time is a a real treat for all of us because she is so involved and just loves to name stuff and point stuff out.

And baby can count to 13. If you ask her to count something, like the ducks in her book, she will point to each one and assign it a correct number..."one, tooo, steee, fou, hive..." it's the coolest thing I have EVER heard.

She is now singing songs outloud all by herself for you if you just ask her to. The other day we got rounds and rounds of Itsy Bitsy Spider out of nowhere so then we asked for Twinkle Twinkle and ABC...OK the words aren't PERFECT but she loves to sing for us and we are just amazed. She is very serious about her singing.

A quick reminder that we are new at this parenting thing and therefore have the right to be amazed! Paul and I just look at each other like: ARE YOU HEARING THIS TOO? Last night at story time I wish we'd have had a video camera running. Maybe we'll set one up because we were just rolling with laughter.

She helps me cook her breakfast, loves waffles, and knows that fire, the fireplace, the oven, and the toaster is hot. When the water runs hot as she's washing her hands, she will tell me: HOT! If her food is too hot, she will tell me HOT. She blows on it to cool it but she's been doing that for a few months now. She knows that ice is cold.

She likes wearing a jacket when it's cold outside.

She's alsways had this "uh-uh-uh" high pitched, urgent almost whine. I swear ever since the day she was born. As a newborn, it was an indicator that a full out scream or cry was forthcoming in just a few seconds. As a toddler, I can see it heading down the path to habitual whining so we are nipping this in the bud this instant. When she starts that we tell her to stop that whining and "tell mommy" or daddy or "show" us what she wants to say. Most of her response is Anna-talk with some key words in there we can pick up on so it's helpful and I think actually working. At least she knows to stop, look at me, and talk to me.

MY GOD THE CHILD IS A BOTTOMLESS PIT LATELY. Do they really have growth spurts, or is this just another wive's tale? Because baby has been putting it away in piles and I am getting concerned! She's not fat or overweight, but geeze I feel for the child if she keeps this up because if she's inherited both her daddy and mommy's genes for the love to eat, she doesn't stand a chance! She will taste ANYTHING you give her but then spit it out if she doesn't like it. At least she's open to trying it out first. She will go around her plate and name all the food on it.

There's so much more I should post that she's doing but ofcourse I can't blog it at the time and then I forget. I'll get better at this. She's just growing up, fast.